PARIS, France (AFP) — Jannik Sinner took a step closer to reclaiming the world number one ranking with a comfortable victory over American Ben Shelton in the Paris Masters quarter-finals on Friday.

The Italian powered to a 6-3, 6-3 win over his fifth-seeded opponent and will next face either Alexander Zverev or Daniil Medvedev in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Sinner, looking to take advantage of rival Carlos Alcaraz’s shock second-round loss to Cameron Norrie, extended his winning streak to 24 successive matches on indoor hard courts.

Sinner will usurp Alcaraz at the top of the rankings by winning the title at La Defense Arena.

“At the moment I’m not thinking about the ranking. It all depends on how I’m playing,” he said. “We go day by day; every day you have very difficult challenges coming up.”

He has now won seven successive matches against the powerful Shelton since losing their first meeting in Shanghai in 2023.

The 24-year-old is targeting his fifth title of the season after last weekend adding the Vienna Open trophy to his Australian Open, Wimbledon and China Open triumphs from earlier in the year.

Sinner has won his last three meetings with both Zverev and Medvedev.

“I’m happy to be in the situation where I am. Tomorrow it’s, again, a very important day but I’m looking forward to it,” Sinner added.

The four-time Grand Slam champion wrapped up the first set in just 34 minutes, sealing it with a thumping baseline winner to break Shelton’s serve for the second time.

A 22nd-consecutive win against American opponents appeared nothing more than a formality for Sinner when he moved 3-1 up in the second set.

But Shelton immediately hit back with a break to love before levelling the set to gain a foothold in the match, much to the delight of a packed crowd.

The left-hander’s revival did not last long, however, as Sinner broke again in the eighth game.

A deft winner at the net secured a place in his 13th Masters semi-final on his first match point.

Earlier, Alexander Bublik battled back to defeat Alex de Minaur and reach the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his career.

The Kazakh, enjoying his best-ever year, edged a dramatic contest 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5 to set up a last-four meeting with Felix Auger-Aliassime who saw off Valentin Vacherot in his quarter-final.

Bublik is still in the race to qualify for next month’s ATP Finals in Turin, competing for the eighth and last berth with Lorenzo Musetti, Auger-Aliassime and Medvedev, albeit he’s more likely to have a chance as an alternate.

“That’s definitely an important match but not probably the most important of my life. You never know. We’ll see,” Bublik said of his clash with Auger-Aliassime.

The 28-year-old — who has won four ATP titles this season — also staged a comeback from two sets down against De Minaur at Roland Garros earlier this year en route to the French Open quarter-finals.

He pulled off a similar trick in the French capital Friday and will be full of confidence before facing Auger-Aliassime on Saturday.

Auger-Aliassime cruised past surprise Shanghai Masters champion Vacherot 6-2, 6-2 to keep his hopes of qualifying for the finals alive.

The Canadian, targeting his second Masters 1000 final appearance, holds a 3-2 winning, head-to-head record over Bublik.

“He [Vacherot] is so confident and you are kind of scared, to be honest,” Auger-Aliassime said.

“You are not sure if he has got some magic right now that nobody else has but he is playing unbelievably.

“I had to be so focused from the start, and this level of intensity from the first game I brought helped ease me into the match and I played some good tennis.”

Vacherot’s remarkable run of 10 successive wins in Masters events came to an end. He won the Shanghai tournament earlier this month as a 204th-ranked qualifier.

The Monegasque is still set to break into the world’s top 30 after another impressive performance in Paris as a wild card.

Italy’s Jannik Sinner plays a backhand return to Ben Shelton of the United States during the men’s singles quarter-final match on day five of the Paris ATP Masters 1000 tennis tournament at Paris La Défense Arena in Nanterre, France, on Friday. (Photos: AFP)