Paris Masters: Novak Djokovic narrowly avoids defeat while Jannik Sinner controversially withdraws from event

Novak Djokovic was nearly the latest victim of an early exit while Jannik Sinner left the tournament altogether over scheduling issues at the Paris Masters on Thursday.

The Serb stretched his winning streak to 15 matches and reached his ninth straight Paris Masters quarter-final with a 4-6 7-6(2) 6-4 win over Tallon Griekspoor, battling his way back from a set down and through a stomach issue.

"I don't want to take anything away from his performance," said Djokovic afterwards.

"He didn't drop the level. Maybe in the third set a few games he did a bit, but he was playing at a very high level and credit to him for that performance. If he would be the winner tonight, it would be absolutely deserved.

"I started off well but I ran out of steam. I've been struggling the last couple of days with my stomach and I just didn't feel myself at all. I was just trying to hold my serve and get to a tie-break, which happened in the second. I got lucky on a couple of shots there. It could have easily gone his way, but overall I played a good tie-break and I started to feel better in the third. I'm really, really glad to overcome this challenge."

Meanwhile, organisers of the Paris Masters are facing heavy criticism over their scheduling after Sinner withdrew following a late-night finish.

The Italian fourth seed, one of the most in-form players in the world, did not conclude his second-round victory over Mackenzie McDonald until 2.30am on Thursday morning and was then scheduled to play Alex De Minaur at 5pm.

Eighth-ranked Casper Ruud took to social media to brand the scheduling a "joke", writing on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Bravo @atptour way to help one of the best players in the world recover and be as ready as possible when he finished his previous match at 2:37 am this morning 14,5 hours to recover.. what a joke."

It was then confirmed around 90 minutes before the start of the match that Sinner, winner of two titles in his last three tournaments, including in Vienna last Sunday, had withdrawn citing fatigue.

"I am sorry to announce that I am withdrawing from today's match in Bercy," wrote Sinner on X.

"I finished the match when it was almost 3 in the morning and didn't go to bed until a few hours later. I had less than 12 hours to rest and prepare for the next game.

"I have to make the right decision for my health and my body. The weeks ahead with the ATP Finals at home and the Davis Cup will be very important, now I focus on preparing for these important events. See you in Turin! Forza!"

De Minaur moves directly through to the quarter-finals, where he will take on fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who defeated Botic Van De Zandschulp 6-3 6-3.

Finally, Grigor Dimitrov continued his good form, beating Alexander Bublik 6-2 6-2 but Roman Safiullin was unable to follow up his upset of Carlos Alcaraz, losing out 4-6 6-4 6-2 to fellow Russian Karen Khachanov.

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