World No.1 Novak Djokovic had to dig deep in the opening set as he reached the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters with a 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 win against Britain’s Kyle Edmund.
The 16-times grand slam champion, who has been slightly ill lately, was kept on his toes on Thursday before racing to victory to set up a meeting with seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas after the Greek beat Australian Alex De Minaur 6-3 6-4.
Serbian Djokovic bagged the first set on his seventh opportunity and he did not look back after breaking for 2-1 in the second with a booming forehand winner.
Fifth seed Dominic Thiem was knocked out in the third round when he lost 6-3 6-2 to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov who will play his first quarter-final at a Masters event since Canada 2018.
Dimitrov, who had been struggling since reaching the semi-finals at the US Open, played brilliantly throughout, taking advantage of Thiem’s fading condition after the Austrian won the title in Vienna last Sunday.
Dimitrov next takes on Chile’s Cristian Garin, who beat local favourite Jeremy Chardy in three sets.
Later on Thursday, world No.2 Rafael Nadal, looking to lift the trophy at Bercy for the first time, takes on old foe Stan Wawrinka.
The Swiss, along with Frenchman Gael Monfils, De Minaur and Italian Matteo Berrettini, is vying for the remaining spot for the season-ending ATP Tour finals.