Alex de Minaur has earned a fabulous win at the Paris Masters against his US Open conqueror. -AP
Alex de Minaur has turned the tables on his US Open conqueror Jack Draper, battling back for a victory in the Paris Masters that propels him tantalisingly close to becoming the Australian in 20 years to make the ATP Finals.
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De Minaur's 5-7 6-2 6-3 victory at the Palais Omnisports on Thursday not only booked the Sydneysider a place in the quarter-finals, it also took him into the crucial provisional eighth and final spot in the race to make it to the end-of-season championship in Turin.
The final eight won't be confirmed until after next week's final qualifying tournaments in Belgrade - where de Minaur will be top seed - and Moselle but the 25-year-old is now on pole to be the first Aussie since his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 to compete in the big show.
It ended a terrific day for Australian men's tennis with Jordan Thompson also reaching the last-eight of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his late-blooming career with a 7-5 7-6 (7-5) win over French local favourite Adrian Mannarino.
The only disappointment was Alexei Popyrin being unable to follow up his shock win over Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday as he succumbed 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 to another Russian, the in-form Karen Khachanov, in his last-16 clash.
