PREVIEW Paris Masters Semifinals: Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev collide again, Bublik and Auger-Aliassime battle for ATP Finals spot

Everything is ready for the semi-finals of the Paris Masters, with several things still at stake after the four semi-finalists were determined. The World No. 2 Jannik Sinner and World No. 3 Alexander Zverev will repeat last week's Vienna Open final – though this time in the semi-finals, in search of a spot in the title definition.

On the other side, an interesting duel will feature Félix Auger-Aliassime against Alexander Bublik – two players who still keep their chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals alive. If the Canadian secures the victory, he will finalize his spot in Turin, completing an epic comeback over the last two months.

Jannik Sinner (No. 2) simply refuses to slow down in the final part of the year, and his Paris Masters campaign has been another of his consistent performances over the last couple of seasons. The Italian comes from winning the title in Vienna last week, but the busy schedule did not seem to overly complicate things during these days for him to achieve good results, defeating Zizou Bergs, Francisco Cerúndolo, and Ben Shelton – still without dropping a set so far in the tournament.

The Italian has already reached a 51-6 record for the season, in which he reached 8 finals – winning the title in 4 of them and being defeated in the other 4 by Carlos Alcaraz. The Italian has the possibility of finishing the week as World No. 1 – after Alcaraz's surprising first-round exit – although Sinner will need to win the Paris title to return to the top of the ATP ranking.

It won't be easy against the German Alexander Zverev (No. 3), who already posed a significant challenge to Sinner last week. The German survived two match points in his quarter-final duel against Daniil Medvedev and ended up closing the victory in the third-set tie-break 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5). Precisely against the Russian, who has been one of the toughest opponents for Sascha, he managed to snap a streak of 5 consecutive losses. Will this also be the opportunity to snap the negative streak against Sinner?

Although the H2H between Sinner and Zverev is 4-4, the Italian has secured the victory in their last three duels (between 2024 and 2025). Sinner won this year in the Australian Open final – for his third major title – and in the Vienna Open final last Sunday. In the match in Vienna, Sascha at times seemed close to victory – especially after taking a notable first set and seeing Sinner's physical issues. However, the Italian reacted and ended up achieving a comeback. Can he prevail again this time? Or will Zverev seize his opportunities this time?

Félix Auger-Aliassime (No. 10) is perhaps the most inspired name in the final part of the year. The Canadian has secured 21 wins in the last 25 matches, including campaigns to the US Open semi-finals and the title at the European Open Brussels a couple of weeks ago.

This week he won tight matches against Alexandre Müller and Daniel Altmaier, before meeting the recent Shanghai Masters champion, Valentin Vacherot, in the quarter-finals – who carried a streak of 10 consecutive wins in Masters 1000 tournaments. However, it was not a major difficulty for Felix, who won easily 6-2, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals. He is now just one victory away from securing his spot at the ATP Finals – and narrowly knocking out the Italian Lorenzo Musetti at the last moment.

His opponent will be the Kazakh Alexander Bublik (No. 16) – another player who still holds out hope of reaching a spot in the ATP Finals. The World No. 16 is in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 for the first time and arrives after two consecutive victories against top-10 players. Bublik has had a more than complicated path in terms of opponents, having defeated Alexei Popyrin, Corentin Moutet, Taylor Fritz (4th), and Alex de Minaur (6th).

Although the chance is still remote, Bublik can qualify for the ATP Finals if he wins the title at the Paris Masters – and repeats with the trophy at Metz next week. However, this is surely not his only goal, considering that he is already at No. 13 in the live ranking – his best ranking so far – and the possibility of finishing the year in the top-10 seems increasingly close.

Currently, the H2H favors Auger-Aliassime 3-2, including their last encounter at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships earlier this year, where Felix secured a tight victory 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. Of their duels, only two were on indoor hardcourts – with one win for each.