Van Assche’s Paris run comes to an end, but Frenchman leaves with bolstered belief

Luca Van Assche’s Paris Masters campaign ended in the semi-finals, where he lost to world number four Ben Shelton. The 22-year-old Frenchman took the opening set and pushed Shelton in front of home fans, but the defeat ended his chance to become France’s first champion at the tournament since 2008.

Van Assche said the run gave him confidence and showed he could compete with top-ranked players, while also highlighting areas to improve. His performance is set to lift him from 47th to a career-high 34th in the world rankings; he said he would focus on developing his game rather than targeting a seed at the Australian Open. Shelton was due to meet Carlos Alcaraz in the final.