PREVIEW | 2023 Paris Masters Semi-Finals featuring DJOKOVIC v RUBLEV and TSITSIPAS v DIMITROV

The final weekend is here at Paris-Bercy as the Paris Masters will conclude with the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon and our preview runs through the two ties on offer.

Novak Djokovic is the outstanding name left in the reckoning, but faces the most consistent player he has faced yet in Andrey Rublev. While Grigor Dimitrov continues his resurgence against a similarly returning to form, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

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Match One - Stefanos Tsitsipas v Grigor Dimitrov (starts at 14:00 CET)

The opening tie is the one we just mentioned as Tsitsipas will face Dimitrov.

The latter in particular has been superb all season. Returning to the top 15, reaching the fourth round in two majors and a first final since 2018, it has been the Bulgarian who is only 32 despite being around for some time at his best for the first time in a number of years.

He saw off Hubert Hurkacz last up who always seems to do well in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, Daniil Medvedev was the other main casualty before that in the second round as well as another match against Lorenzo Musetti.

Tsitsipas on the other hand has reached a trio of semi-finals in a row and is showing some of his best tennis again after the middle part of the season saw him losing most weeks early and his relationship with Paula Badosa garnering the most headlines.

But after a tough run through which has seen him defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov among others, another semi-final beckons. It is also a head to head that heavily favours Tsitsipas who currently leads 6-1 with three of those meetings coming last year.

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Grigor Dimitrov & Stefanos Tsitsipas will face each other in the Paris Masters semifinal. Battle of the one-handed backhands. Who wins? 🇧🇬🇬🇷

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Match Two - Novak Djokovic v Andrey Rublev (starts at 17:00 CET)

The second semi-final sees the favourite for the title aim to continue his quest for another Paris Masters and that is Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic as ever had his early scare, but has been imperious for the most part. Facing Tallon Griekspoor, he had to take pills from a doctor after going a set down, something that he later revealed was stomach cramps.

But it hasn't stopped him producing on the court. Albeit he did go three sets with Holger Rune who has been heading back towards his best again.

Next up is another consistent player similar to the first semi-final as Andrey Rublev sits waiting. He saw off Alex de Minaur late last night at around 1am after easing through against Botic van de Zandschulp and Yoshihito Nishioka.

The main issue that Rublev may have now in backing it up is just that with a late finish and early return as well as not being hugely troubled in his opening rounds. As expected too, it is Djokovic that dominates the Head to Head record. He sits at 4-1. Rublev's only win coming back in the 2022 Belgrade Final and since then, it has been fairly dominant for Djokovic.

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Andrey Rublev was asked what he learned from playing Novak Djokovic: “I didn’t learn. The 4 times he beat me, he beat me almost at 0. I didn’t learn anything, man.” 😂

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