Ruud, Rublev fall in Paris, as De Minaur, Dimitrov, Tsitsipas see Turin path

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/casper-ruud/rh16/overview'Casper Ruud/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andrey-rublev/re44/overview'Andrey Rublev/arsquo;s second-round exits at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/paris/352/overview'Rolex Paris Masters/a on Tuesday could have major implications on the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin./p

pIn a back-and-forth battle with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jordan-thompson/tc61/overview'Jordan Thompson/a, Ruud fell to a 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4 defeat, while a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/francisco-cerundolo/c0au/overview'Francisco Cerundolo/a defeated sixth seed Rublev 7-6(6), 7-6(5) to record his 100th tour-level win./p

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pRuud is currently seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin with 3,855 points. Eighth-placed Rublev trails the Norwegian by 135 points to close out the qualification spots./p

pHowever, both players are unable to secure further points at this weekrsquo;s indoor ATP Masters 1000. Meanwhile, fellow Turin hopefuls a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alex-de-minaur/dh58/overview'Alex de Minaur/a (ninth), a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a (10th), and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/stefanos-tsitsipas/te51/overview'Stefanos Tsitsipas/a (12th) are all still alive and could climb further./p

pDe Minaur would surpass Rublev if he were to make the quarter-finals. If De Minaur and Tsitsipas met in the semi-finals in Paris, and Tsitsipas went on to win the title, then both players would leapfrog Rublev and Ruud./p

pIf De Minaur were to lift the trophy, he would jump to sixth, and even fifth if a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a fell to an early defeat. Either Dimitrov or Tsitsipas triumphing in Paris would catapult them into sixth place in the Live Race, which concludes next week at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/belgrade/4787/overview'Belgrade Open/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/metz/341/overview'Moselle Open/a in Metz./p

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pIn the last match on Tuesday, Ruud forced a deciding set, but it was Thompson who stood firm to move 4-3 ahead in the pairrsquo;s Lexus ATP Head2Head series./p

pldquo;I think my ball is a little bit flatter, it doesnrsquo;t give him as much time to wind up on both groundstrokes,rdquo; said Thompson, who defeated Ruud in the Los Cabos final to claim his maiden ATP Tour title in February. ldquo;But he is playing good on hard courts too, I've just managed to get the better of him a couple of times./p

pldquo;Today I found it a lot harder, he was hitting it a lot deeper and firmer, but thankfully I managed to pull through.rdquo;/p

pEarlier, Cerundolo rallied from a break deficit in both sets to upset Rublev and record his 100th tour-level win. The Argentine was ruthless in attack, winning 86 per cent (7/8) of net points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.nbsp;nbsp;/p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p