AUSSIE Alex de Minaur‘s hopes of a maiden ATP Finals birth are within his own control after Russian Andrey Rublev suffered a spectacular second round defeat at the Paris Masters overnight. While Rublev went down to Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo in two tiebreakers, de Minaur overcame Cerundolo’s compatriot Mariano Navone, 7-5 6-1.

Coming into the ATP 1000 event, Rublev sat in eighth place for the ATP Race, just off Norwegian Casper Ruud and ahead of de Minaur in what was one of the most frantic ends to an ATP Tour season in recent memory. However Rublev going down, de Minaur winning and then in the last match of the day, the Australian’s countryman in Jordan Thompson took out Casper Ruud, 7-6 3-6 6-4.

The results following American Tommy Paul‘s defeat on day one and Serbian Novak Djokovic withdrawing from Paris meant the ATP Race is wide open. Given the uncertainty around Djokovic’s fitness for the Turin event in a couple of weeks, there is every chance both eighth and ninth qualify for the invite-only exclusive event.

As it stands, Djokovic has qualified (3910 points) due to the other results, but both Ruud (3855) and Rublev (3720) are in danger. With de Minaur (3595) and Grigor Dimitrov (3150) the biggest chances – and Stefanos Tsitsipas (3015) a remote option, the two first round losers are in a precarious spot.

A total of 50 additional points are up for grabs for a second round win, though for de Minaur to qualify he would need to beat one of Taylor Fritz – who officially stamped his Turin ticket with a Round of 32 victory – or Jack Draper in the Round of 16 in order to qualify. First up though, de Minaur has to get past Serbian lucky loser Miomir Kecmanovic who got the better of Sebastian Baez in three sets overnight.

In de Minaur’s victory over Navone, the Aussie won in straight sets, but had a fight on his hands before steamrolling his way to victory. From 5-5 in the first set, the ninth seed won eight of the next nine games to close out the match in an hour and 19 minutes, 7-5 6-1. He served seven aces and won 73 and 65 per cent of his first and second serve points, but his 43 per cent efficiency is still a cause for concern.

In other results, Tsitsipas continued his good form in Paris with a 6-3 6-4 triumph over Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, while second seed Carlos Alcaraz overcame Tabilo’s compatriot in Nicolas Jarry. American young gun Alex Michelsen stunned 12th seed Hubert Hurkacz dropping just four games in a 51-minute 6-1 6-3 rout, while Vienna champion Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard rolled American 14th seed Frances Tiafoe, 6-7 7-6 6-3.

Other players who reached semi-finals or better last week in Jack Draper, Karen Khachanov, Arthur Fils and Ben Shelton all posted wins, as Australian Alexei Popyrin closed out his contest with Italian Matteo Berrettini in a tight 7-5 7-6 result. German Jan-Lennard Struff ousted Italian Lorenzo Musetti, while Belgian lucky loser Zizou Bergs ended French wildcard Richard Gasquet‘s illustrious singles career wit ha 6-3 6-4 triumph.