Alex de Minaur has been the unwitting beneficiary of a scheduling row at the Paris Masters that forced his weary last-16 opponent Jannik Sinner to pull out just 90 minutes before they were due to clash.
Organisers of one of the sport's biggest Masters 1000 events have been under fire for a schedule which meant Italian Sinner only won his previous match at 2.37am in the early hours on Thursday, giving him no time to rest and prepare properly for a match later that same afternoon against de Minaur.
Sinner's Australian coach Darren Cahill led the protests, tweeting on X after the three-set win over Mackenzie McDonald in a match which had only begun after midnight: "2:45 a.m. Happy for the Jannik win, but zero care for the players welfare with the Paris schedule "
