Red-hot Vacherot through to Paris Masters quarters after beating Norrie

PARIS (AP) — There seems to be no stopping Valentin Vacherot, who reached another Masters quarterfinal by beating Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-4 on Thursday.

Already this month, Vacherot made a stunning run from the qualifiers to win the Shanghai Masters for his first career title. He downed 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and beat his own cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final.

The 40th-ranked Vacherot, who is from Monaco, beat Rinderknech again in the second round here in Paris, setting up a match against Norrie after the British player eliminated top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.

Vacherot had five aces and saved all five break points against Norrie, who dropped serve once. Vacherot faces ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime or Daniel Altmaier in the quarterfinals.

Later Thursday, four-time Grand Slam champion Jannik Sinner continued his bid to reclaim the No. 1 ranking when he faced Francisco Cerundolo.

Sinner will return to No. 1 if he wins the tournament.

Also, defending champion Alexander Zverev played Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and fourth-seeded Taylor Fritz was up against Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis