American Tennis Players Shelton, Tiafoe Ousted in First Round of Paris Masters; de Minaur Defeats Murray in Three-Hour Match

Bublik claims first Masters hardcourt win since last year, while de Minaur keeps ATP Finals hope alive and remains unbeaten against Murray; Djokovic to make tournament comeback.

American tennis players Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe were both defeated in the first round of the Paris Masters, with Tiafoe losing 6-3, 6-4 to Alexander Bublik and Shelton ousted 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3 by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
This win marks Bublik's first hardcourt victory at a Masters tournament since the previous year in Miami.
Despite hitting 15 aces in the match, Ben Shelton, who recently secured his first tour title in Tokyo, failed to bounce back from the only service break in the deciding set.
In a three-hour contest, Alex de Minaur saved a match point and came back from a 2-5 deficit in the third set to defeat 2016 champion Andy Murray 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5, maintaining his perfect record against Murray over six matches.
With this win, de Minaur keeps his hopes alive for a spot in the ATP Finals, for which five of the eight slots are filled by Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, and Andrey Rublev.
Record six-time Paris Masters champion and world number one Novak Djokovic is set to make a comeback to the tournament after taking a break since his Davis Cup match for Serbia in September.