French tennis star Fils starts tilt for Paris Masters title and spot in Turin

The 22-year-old, who as sixth seed was given a first-round bye, will take on Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic for a place in the last 16 at one of the most coveted tournaments on the circuit after the four Grand Slam competitions in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.

"I feel very good," Fils told Tennis TV ahead of his meeting with Machac who saw off Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet.

"Of course it's not easy to play in front of a home crowd," he added. "There is a lot of expectation. People want to see me play. They want to see me win. It's a different type of pressure but I think it's cool. I'm going to try to do my best."

Progress in Paris

In his first two visits to the Paris Masters in 2022 and 2023, Fils lost in the first round.

In 2024, he went down in the last 16 to the eventual champion Alexander Zverev.

Last year, Fils was absent as he recovered from an injury that kept him off the circuit for eight months.

In 2026, he won the Barcelona Open in April and in August claimed the most prestigious title of his career at the Cincinnati Open to become the first Frenchman to win a Masters 1000 title since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2014.

There was also a surge to the final in Doha as well as runs to the semi-finals at the Masters 1000 tournaments in Miami and Madrid.

Paris Masters to settle race for Turin

 Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton and Daniil Medvedev have secured their berths for the eight-man ATP Finals in Turin between 15 and 22 November.

Along with Fils, the French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli, Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jódar occupy the other four qualifying positions.

To solidify their spots, they have to fare better than their pursuers who include the former world number one Novak Djokovic as well as Alex de Minaur and the Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

On Monday night at the Paris Masters, the 2024 runner-up Ugo Humbert moved into the second round.

The 28-year-old Frenchman beat Botic van de Zandschulp in three sets and will face either the American Brandon Nakashima or Matteo Berrettini from Italy.