Paris Masters Day 4 Recap: Novak Djokovic gets booed by crowd, Stefanos Tsitsipas secures ATP Finals spot, and more

It was another drama-filled day at the 2023 Paris Masters.

The crowd has been a little unruly, to say the least, and this time, Novak Djokovic was the target of their ire. Despite the crowd booing him, the World No. 1 remained unbothered to stage a comeback win over Tallon Griekspoor.

Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Alexander Zverev to seal his ATP Finals spot. Jannik Sinner withdrew from the tournament due to poor scheduling, which left him no time to recover in between matches.

Here's a quick recap of the events that transpired on Day 4 of the Paris Masters.

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Novak Djokovic shuts down the crowd with his performance

At this point Djokovic is quite used to the general public being against him. He has often used it as motivation to turn his matches around. It was no different during his third-round clash against Tallon Griekspoor at the Paris Masters on Thursday.

Djokovic lost the first set but levelled the match by taking the second set in a tie-break. The Serb had break points to go up 5-3 in the decider, but Griekspoor broke his serve to make it 4-4. The crowd jeered him at this point and the Serb told them to continue doing so.

Djokovic turned the hostility into his strength, claiming the last eight points of the match to score a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 win. Up next for him in the quarterfinals is Holger Rune in a rematch of last year's final, which was won by the young Dane.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas downs Alexander Zverev to make the cut for ATP Finals

Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2023 Paris Masters.

Tsitsipas secured a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win over Zverev to qualify for the ATP Finals for the fifth straight year. After a pretty good first half of the season, Tsitsipas struggled with his game for a couple of months. The Greek has now raised his level over the last few weeks.

Tsitsipas won the ATP Finals upon his debut in 2019, but hasn't made it past the group stage since then. As for Zverev, his fate hangs in the balance. He's currently seventh in the race, but with Rune and Hurkacz still in the draw in Paris, he could be surpassed by both.

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Jannik Sinner pulls out of the Paris Masters after 3 a.m. finish

Sinner's second-round match against Mackenzie McDonald was a tough affair. The two battled it out for over two and a half hours, with the Italian finally coming out on top in three sets. The match started quite late due to the previous ones being lengthy duels as well.

Thus, Sinner's match ended around 3 a.m. He was then scheduled to take to the court just 14 hours later for his third-round contest. However, he decided to withdraw from the Paris Masters altogether, especially with the ATP Finals right around the corner.

"I am sorry to announce that I am withdrawing from today's match in Bercy. I finished the match when it was almost 3 in the morning and didn't go to bed until a few hours later. I had less than 12 hours to rest and prepare for the next game," Jannik Sinner said in a statement.

Sinner's third-round opponent, Alex de Minaur, thus advanced to the quarterfinals, where he'll take on Andrey Rublev.

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Paris Masters 2023: Day 4 results at a glance

Men's singles

(1) Novak Djokovic def. Tallon Griekspoor: 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4

(13) Alex de Minaur def. (4) Jannik Sinner: walkover

(5) Andrey Rubelv def. Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-3, 6-3

(6) Holger Rune def. Daniel Altmaier: 6-3, 6-3

(7) Stefanos Tsitsipas def. (10) Alexander Zverev: 7-6 (2), 6-4

(11) Hubert Hurkacz def. Francisco Cerundolo: 6-4, 6-3

(16) Karen Khachanov def. Roman Safiullin: 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

Grigor Dimitrov def. Alexander Bublik: 6-2, 6-2