The scheduling at the Paris Masters has been labelled a "joke" after irregular playing times forced a fatigued Jannik Sinner to pull out of the tournament.
Sinner had finished playing his second-round match against Mackenzie McDonald at 2.37am in Paris and couldn’t recover in time for his match against Australia's Alex de Minaur, who got a walkover into the quarter-finals as a result of Sinner's withdrawal.
Sinner was scheduled to play in the fourth match of the day session instead of being part of the night session.
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"I am sorry to announce that I am withdrawing from today's match in Bercy," wrote Sinner on X.
"I finished the match when it was almost three in the morning and didn't go to bed until a few hours later. I had less than 12 hours to rest and prepare for the next game.
"I have to make the right decision for my health and my body. The weeks ahead with the ATP Finals at home and the Davis Cup will be very important, now I focus on preparing for these important events."
In defence of Sinner, Casper Ruud hit out at the ATP.
"Bravo ATP, 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 2.37am this morning, 14.5 hours to recover … what a joke," Ruud posted to social media.
Elsewhere, Stefanos Tsitsipas qualified for the ATP Finals by beating Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the third round in Paris.
The seventh-seeded Tsitsipas earned his first win over a top 10 player this season, hitting 37 winners to 28 for Zverev.
The Greek took a 3-0 lead but failed to serve out the first set at 5-3 by sending a backhand into the net.
In the tiebreaker, Tsitsipas capitalised on two consecutive forehand errors from Zverev to lead 5-2 before taking the first set with an ace.
Tsitsipas broke Zverev in the opening game of the second set and clinched the victory with his 10th ace.
Zverev can still qualify for the ATP Finals but now depends on the results of other players.
De Minaur and Hubert Hurkacz stayed in contention for the two remaining spots at the eight-man tournament that will be played in Turin from November 12-19.
Before the Paris Masters, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Sinner and Andrey Rublev had already qualified for the ATP Finals.
De Minaur will next play the fifth-seeded Rublev, who ousted qualifier Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-3.
The 11th-seeded Hurkacz beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-3 to next face Grigor Dimitrov, who cruised past Alexander Bublik 6-2, 6-2.
Karen Khachanov, who won the tournament in 2018, rallied to beat qualifier Roman Safiullin 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final match against Tsitsipas.
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