Tennis-Third seed Shelton edges past Paul to reach Paris last four

Tennis - ATP 1000 Masters - Paris Masters - Plenitude Arena, Nanterre, France - November 6, 2026 Ben Shelton of the U.S. reacts during his quarter final match against Tommy Paul of the U.S. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

PARIS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - ⁠World number four Ben Shelton ⁠battled past fellow American Tommy Paul ‌6-4 4-6 6-3 on Friday to reach the Paris Masters semi-finals.

• Neither player had a ​break point in a tight ⁠first set until ⁠US Open finalist Shelton earned two at ⁠5-4 ‌up courtesy of two Paul double faults

• He clinched ⁠it on the second one, firing a ​return ‌winner down the line but wasbroken ⁠back in ​the very first game of the second set. That was enough for Paul ⁠to levelthe contest and ​force a decider

• Shelton could not convert an early break point to go 2-0 ⁠up in the third set but kept up the pressure, breaking Paul before moving 4-1 clear

• The third seed ​will now play ⁠the winner of the other quarter-final between ​France's Luca vanAssche and ‌Australian Rinky Hijikata for ​a spot in the final

(Reporting by Karolos GrohmannEditing by Toby Davis)