Halys saves four match points vs Tiafoe, sending Fils to ATP Finals

Quentin Halys produced the comeback of his season on Wednesday, saving four match points to beat seventh seed Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (9) in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters. The result had consequences far beyond the Frenchman's own run: it guaranteed Arthur Fils a place at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

Four match points slip away

The match opened the programme on Court Central at 11:00. Halys, who had beaten Arthur Fery in the first round, took the opening set 6-3 before Tiafoe hit back emphatically, dropping only one game in the second. The decider went all the way to a tie-break, where Tiafoe had four chances to close out the match and could not take any of them. Halys eventually won the breaker 11-9 to reach the round of 16. It was a win that mattered twice over for French tennis: one home player into the last 16, another on his way to Turin.

For Tiafoe, the defeat is a heavy blow in the Race to Turin. The American came to Paris chasing one of the last spots at the season finale and left with 3,390 points, according to Tennis Majors — now frozen, while the players around him still have matches to play.

Fils ends France's eight-year wait

Halys' win meant Tiafoe could no longer catch Fils, who sits seventh in the Race with 3,535 points. Because Jannik Sinner has ended his season with a right knee injury, ninth place in the Race is enough this year to qualify, and Tennis Majors calculates that the structure of the Paris draw means at most two players can still overtake Fils.

The 22-year-old becomes the first Frenchman to qualify for the season-ending event since Gaël Monfils in 2016, and the tenth Frenchman overall to play at the tournament, according to Flashscore. It caps a season in which Fils missed both the Australian Open and Roland Garros through injury but still won two titles: Barcelona and his first Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati.

WTAVacherot beats Rune again as Fils retires against Fritz in Basel

Two places left

Fils joins Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev and Flavio Cobolli among the qualified players, leaving two spots to be decided over the rest of the week in Paris. The ATP Finals take place in Turin from 15 to 22 November.

Fils still has work to do in Paris himself. The sixth seed faces qualifier Tomas Machac on Court Central on Wednesday night, scheduled for no earlier than 20:30 local time, now free of any Race pressure. Halys, meanwhile, goes into the round of 16 as one of three Frenchmen through on Wednesday, alongside Arthur Rinderknech, who beat qualifier Mattia Bellucci 6-4, 6-1, and Luca Van Assche, who beat 15th seed Learner Tien 7-6 (4), 6-4 to set up a meeting with Lorenzo Musetti.