Back on top: Jannik Sinner regains World No.1 spot and claims Paris Masters for first time

Jannik SInner is back on top and is the champion at the Paris Masters going into the ATP Finals firmly in the driving seat after Carlos Alcaraz's shoddy display on the hard courts of the French capital as the now World No.1 again won against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday 6-4, 7-6(3).

Sinner called the potential pursuit of the World No.1 spot as 'impossible' but it seems like Alcaraz losing early made the impossible possible as he bookended a strange week where he look languid and insipid at times but still winning while others he looked imperious.

Against Auger-Aliassime, it was a mixed bag as he showed great resolve in particular to dent the Canadian's chances of a third set as he claimed the second in a tie-break after it looked for all the will in the world like Sinner would have to chance his arm at a final set.

But after winning Vienna also recently, Sinner will go into his final tournament of the year trying to make it three in a row. He will not play the Davis Cup Finals in the coming weeks so ends his season at the year end finals with the line-up confirmed after the next week. Auger-Aliassime has done his hopes no harm especially if Novak Djokovic doesn't play.

But in the end, Sinner had too much evidenced by the fact that Auger-Aliassime only won two points after being 5-4 up in the second set as Sinner came back to seal it in a tie-break. He now sits at 26 matches in a row won, he seals a 5th Masters 1000 title, will return to World No.1 for a week with the Turin points set to drop off meaning he needs to defend them to remain there.

But he also cuts his lead hugely in the race to the Year End No.1 and seals a 23rd ATP title. While in the WTA, it was a bit of a foregone conclusion who would end the year as the top player it is very much final week territory for the top two. Given also that Sinner missed a fair chunk of the season post Australia and didn't return until May, it is pretty incredible his end that he has managed to remain in the running.

He becomes the first player since Carlos Alcaraz also to win a title at this level without dropping a set. Back to Auger-Aliassime finally and his run to his second ATP Masters 1000 final sees him climb to eighth in the Race and he holds a 160 point lead over Lorenzo Musetti for the last spot. He will look to secure his spot in Metz next week.

After being down in their Head-to-Head earlier this year. Sinner now has three wins in a row with Cincinnati, US Open and now Paris showing how far he has come since their early career meetings.