Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet for the 11th time in the semifinals at the ATP Rolex Paris Masters. Meanwhile, the other final-four matchup pitches surely the two form players on tour against each other. Holger Rune has made three finals in a row whilst Felix Auger-Aliassime has won three tournaments on the spin. Who do you think will find their way to yet another championship match?
ATP Paris Masters Semifinal Predictions
Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Holger Rune
Head-to-head: Auger-Aliassime 1-0 Rune
Both players must be running on fumes by now, but it’s really not showing in their games. Rune has reached the final in his three previous events, including two in the past couple of weeks. Felix Auger-Aliassime arrives in the semifinals here on a 16-match win streak and hasn’t even had a week off along the way. They met for the first time last week in Basel, battling each other for the title on Sunday. Auger-Aliassime took that clash, but it might not be as straightforward this time.
Both players survived extremely tough battles in their opening rounds in Paris, but quickly returned to steamrolling their opponents. With Rune’s recent improvements on serve, he should be able to keep up with the Canadian when it comes to free points won. He’s often been blasting his second delivery too and doing so with great success. A slower and higher-bouncing surface (compared to Basel) will also help the 19-year-old make the match more about the baseline patterns and potentially allow him to win the backhand cross-court exchanges that he should dominate in this matchup.
Prediction: Rune in 3
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Novak Djokovic vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
Head-to-head: Djokovic 8-2 Tsitsipas
Djokovic and Tsitsipas have also played in a fairly recent final. Less than a month ago, the Serbian absolutely blasted through all his service games in their championship match at Astana. Since the French Open, Djokovic has only lost one match (to Auger-Aliassime at the Laver Cup) and has been looking extremely motivated and even hungrier for titles. This probably comes from the fact that the 21-time Grand Slam champion has been forced to skip many tournaments this year due to refusing to get vaccinated.
Tsitsipas hasn’t been quite that good, suffering disappointing exits (for his standards) to Rune and Borna Coric since. He’s put in some good work in Paris so far though, not dropping a set in three matches. While he once led the head-to-head against Djokovic 2-1, he hasn’t defeated the Serbian in over three years. He also lost both their indoor meetings – the aforementioned one in Astana and one at this very event (1-6 2-6 in 2019). This sort of demolition is unlikely, but that doesn’t mean that Tsitsipas’ chances aren’t looking quite grim.
Prediction: Djokovic in 2
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