Sinner on the number 1 spot: "The ranking is a consequence of how I play"

Jannik Sinner has qualified for the semi-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters and is just two wins away from reclaiming the world number one spot from Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner will indeed be in the final four at the Paris Masters 1000. The Italian world number 2 comfortably dominated Ben Shelton (6-3, 6-3) for the seventh time in eight encounters, despite a dip in the middle of the second set.

But Sinner didn't doubt for long and ended up definitively frustrating his opponent of the day. The 24-year-old player will face Alexander Zverev in the coming hours, attempting to qualify for his first final in this tournament. Sinner reacted to his victory against Shelton.

"I'm very happy. Today's match was a difficult duel, I knew that before the match. Against Ben (Shelton), there are moments where you feel you have no control over your game because of his incredible serve.

I think I handled it well, I was solid from the baseline while being quite aggressive. Overall, I'm very happy with my level of play. Tomorrow (Saturday), I know it will be a very physical match, we'll see how I feel.

Right now, I'm not thinking about the ranking at all. The ranking is simply a consequence of how I play. I take it day by day, that's all. There are new challenges every day, like today's (Friday) which was complicated.

Reaching the semi-finals here means a lot to me. The season has been long, I've had some incredible results. I never take any of these results for granted," Sinner assured Tennis TV.