ATP Tour

Ruud upsets Jodar in Shanghai R2, dents Spaniard's Turin hopes

Casper Ruud possibly shook up the Nitto ATP Finals qualification scenarios significantly on Tuesday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where he delivered a largely composed performance to upset ninth seed Rafael Jodar at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

The former World No. 2 played aggressively to sink the Spaniard 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 18 minutes and advance to the third round. With the victory, the Norwegian also earned himself a measure of revenge against the 20-year-old, who defeated him earlier this year in Shanghai. Jodar was competing as a Top-10 player for the first time this week, having broken into the elite group Monday.

"On the indoor court you have to be as aggressive as possible," Ruud said. "There will be some mistakes. [But] I have accepted that in my game plan for indoor hard courts... It has been a tough balance for me to try to accept that more errors will come out of the racquet, but in order to keep up with the level of these guys, you just have to go for it at times."

Ruud's victory against Jodar means Flavio Cobolli, who is sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals. Now only three spots remain for the prestigious season-ending championship, which will take place in Turin from 15-22 November.

Jodar himself still has hopes of qualifying as he is currently in ninth place with 3,234 points in the Live Race, effectively in the final spot to qualify. However, the Spaniard will be passed by 10th-placed Alex de Minaur if the Australian defeats Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round. The 11th-placed Novak Djokovic (2,940), 12th-placed Taylor Fritz (2,900) and 13th-placed Tommy Paul (2,775) are all still alive in Paris and could also now overtake Jodar this week.

In other action at the ATP Masters 1000 event, Ben Shelton, who has already qualified for Turin, delivered a statement opening-match victory against Cameron Norrie to advance to the third round.

The 23-year-old eased past the Briton 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 11 minutes. Shelton won 88 per cent (28/32) of points behind his first serve against Norrie, according to Infosys ATP Stats, while he converted three of the six break points he earned to level the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1.

A champion in Dallas, Munich, Stuttgart and Montreal and a finalist at the US Open this year, Shelton has now equalled his personal best of 42 tour-level wins in a single season. The next test for the American in Paris will be a third-round meeting with Mattia Bellucci or home hope Arthur Rinderknech.

Elsewhere in Paris, Fritz rallied past home hope Benjamin Bonzi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 41 minutes. The American is currently 12th in the Live Race with 2,900 points, just 40 points behind 11th-placed Djokovic. In other action, Alex Michelsen staged a comeback to outlast Basel finalist Jiri Lehecka 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4. With the victory, the American set a second-round clash with Carlos Alcaraz.