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Former world number one Daniil Medvedev kickstarted his campaign at the Paris Masters Tuesday with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 win over Spaniard Jaume Munar.The 2020 Paris Masters champion began briskly on the vast centre court of the event’s new La Defense Arena home, claiming the opening set in under half-an-hour. Eleventh seed Medvedev then secured the crucial break in the sixth game of the second set and served out to set up a second-round meeting with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.Earlier, Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime kept alive his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin with a comeback 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Argentinian Francisco Comesana.Auger-Aliassime is ninth in the race for the eight-place tournament and needs a deep run in the French capital to make his second career appearance at the season-ending tournament. Shock Shanghai Masters winner Valentin Vacherot raised the roof on the 17,500-capacity centre court as he continued his remarkable form in the opening match of the day.The Monegasque wildcard beat Czech 14th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-1, 6-3 in under an hour, and will next meet his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in a repeat of the Shanghai final earlier in October. Canadian Gabriel Diallo beat Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4 and France’s Corentin Moutet fought past American lucky loser Reilly Opelka in three sets.Earlier, Grigor Dimitrov returned to action by beating Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 in the first round as the event made its debut in its new La Defense Arena home.After being held for nearly 40 years at Paris’ Bercy Arena, the tournament has moved across the city to set up shop in the cavernous multi-purpose arena.Opened in 2017, the venue is best known as the home ground of French Top 14 rugby club Racing 92 and for having played host to the swimming events at the Olympics last year. It also welcomes concerts and political rallies. Now in its current guise as a tennis venue, La Defense Arena boasts the second largest showpiece court on the current global tennis circuit - second only in size terms to the US Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium.It was the scene of a triumphant comeback for former world number three Dimitrov as he played his first match since having to retire injured from his fourth round match at Wimbledon in July when leading two sets to love against eventual champion Jannik Sinner. “Winning or losing this match today would have been a win for me, I’m just so happy to be able to compete again,” 34-year-old Dimitrov said on-court.“I had to be extremely patient with myself... clearly I’m playing against such an amazing player but I’m just grateful (to win).”Dimitrov overcame fervent home support in the night session to grind out the first set on a tie-break against big-serving Frenchman Mpetshi Perricard.Bolstered by his lead, the Bulgarian swiftly secured the first break of the match in the opening game of the second set as he glided through to the round of 32.

Novak Djokovic banished exhaustion and played through an ankle injury scare to make it to the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters Tuesday, beating Spain's Jaume Munar 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.The victory keeps Djokovic on track as the favourite to take a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub, with other top seeds already withdrawn or knocked out.The 38-year-old almost looked like he might not be able to continue when the match went to a decider, but conjured up the energy to break his decade-younger opponent twice in the third set."Thank you, thank you everyone, I love you!" he shouted in Chinese to the adoring crowd before leaving court almost immediately after play finished.The 24-time Grand Slam champion had a good start, breaking in the fourth game, but shortly afterwards had to take a medical break when his left ankle slid out behind him as he rushed towards the net.He grimaced in pain as he was attended to by an on-court physio, but managed to resume to hold the fifth game.Djokovic received treatment briefly again during a break in play in the second set, and looked increasingly fatigued, crouching over frequently in between rallies.Serbian-flag-waving Chinese fans roared in support, but 41st-ranked Munar ultimately broke in the 12th game after an unforced error from his opponent.An agonised Djokovic dropped to the floor and remained splayed out on court with his chest heaving, as his team rushed over.But he picked himself up and in the third set had an incredible revival, breaking in the first and seventh games and sending the stadium into a frenzy.Djokovic is the highest-ranking player left in the competition.World number one Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the tournament to rest, and second, third and fourth-ranked Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz have all been eliminated.The event in Shanghai has been beset by injuries, as players have battled temperatures of over 30 Celsius and humidity levels peaking at over 80 percent.Sinner was forced to retire on Sunday after being seized with extreme cramps.World number 11 Holger Rune, who has also struggled with the conditions, called on Tuesday for tennis authorities to bring in a heat policy for events like Shanghai.The Dane is through to the last eight after he took out France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3.Zizou Bergs and Gabriel Diallo took it down to the wire in their match, with the Belgian eventually prevailing in a prolonged third set tiebreak 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/8).