Djokovic battles on, exhausted Sinner quits
World number one Novak Djokovic is the last of the top four seeds standing at the Paris Masters as he battled past unseeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, despite a stomach issue, on Thursday. It was not the routine victory Djokovic enjoyed in his return to action a day earlier against Tomas Etcheverry, as he recovered from a set down to eventually win in two hours 39 minutes. "I started off well but I ran out of steam. I've been struggling the last couple of days with my stomach and I just didn't feel myself at all," said Djokovic after the match. "It's hard to have a clear mind when you spent more time on the toilet than on court the last three days," he added. The 36-year-old moves on to face Holger Rune in the quarter-finals on Friday, after the Danish sixth seed brushed aside German Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-3. Rune beat Djokovic in last year's final in Paris. Fourth seed Jannik Sinner withdrew before his third-round match, blaming a lack of recovery time after finishing his previous match after half-past two in the morning. "I have to do what I believe is best for my health and body," said Sinner. The night before, the Italian started his match against American Mackenzie McDonald after midnight and battled to a three-set victory. Sinner was due on centre court on Thursday as the fourth match on the schedule to face Australian 13th seed Alex de Minaur. Darren Cahill, who coaches Sinner, criticised what he called "zero care for players' welfare with Paris scheduling." Casper Ruud, the eighth seed, who lost to Francisco Cerundulo on Wednesday, echoed the criticism. "Bravo ATPtour way to help one of the best players in the world recover and be as ready as possible when he finished his previous match at 2:37 am this morning 14.5 hours to recover... what a joke," the Norwegian posted on X, formerly Twitter. (AFP)