Paris Masters: Jannik Sinner beats Ben Shelton to reach semi-finals

Sinner dropped serve midway through the second set, but soon regained her advantage to complete the victory over the 23-year-old Shelton in 70 minutes.

“I’m not thinking about qualifying right now,” the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion added. “It’s a result of how I play.

“It means a lot to get to the semi-finals here in Paris. It’s been a very long season and we’ve had great results and I never take those results for granted.”

Sinner will face Alexander Zverev or Daniil Medvedev in the last four.

Alexander Bublik will make his Masters semi-final appearance for the first time after a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-5 victory over Australian sixth seed Alex de Minaur led to emotional scenes for Kazakhstan’s number one.

The 13th-seeded team will next face Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who will end the streak of ninth-seeded Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot with a 6-2 6-2 success.