Paris Masters: De Minaur through to last eight, Sinner withdraws citing fatigue after late-night finish

Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 13 seed, moved into the last eight of Paris Masters after Italian Jannik Sinner, the No 4 seed, withdrew before the match at the Accor Arena.

Sinner finished his last-32 match against Mackenzie McDonald at 2.37am, having not entered the court to start his match until after midnight.

It has once again ignited debate about the nature of scheduling in tennis, with prominent players and coaches yet again having to come out and voice their frustration over the issue.

The Italian was on a six-match winning streak, having taken the title in Vienna last week.

But instead of the intriguing prospect of Sinner up against an in-form De Minaur, the Paris Masters has instead been treated to a walkover, and it’s fourth seed exits due to the inability or unwillingness of tournaments organisers to ensure matches finish at an appropriate hour.

De Minaur, ranked No 13, will face Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, next.

Earlier in the tournament, the Australian edged out Andy Murray (7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5) and Serb lucky loser Dusan Lajovic (4-6, 6-4, 6-4).

Sinner, ranked No 4, defeated American Mackenzie McDonald (6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1) in the previous round of the Paris-Bercy tournament.

Paris Masters, other last-16 results (Accor Arena, EUR 5.779.335, most recent results first):

• Daniel Altmaier vs. Holger Rune
• Novak Djokovic vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Hubert Hurkacz: thursday
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Alexander Zverev: thursday
• Karen Khachanov (16) beat Roman Safiullin (Q): 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev beat Botic van de Zandschulp (Q): 6-3, 6-3
• Grigor Dimitrov beat Alexander Bublik: 6-2, 6-2