Luca Van Assche of France saved nine of the 10 break points he faced to beat 15th seed Learner Tien of the United States 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the round of 32 at the Paris Masters 1000 on Wednesday. He will face Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, who beat top seed Alexander Zverev 7-6 (5), 6-2 earlier in the day, in the last 16.

The unseeded Frenchman, ranked world No. 47, needed 2 hours 2 minutes to get past the world No. 19. The win was the 37th of the 22-year-old’s career.

The match turned on the pressure points. Tien held to love in the opening game before Van Assche, serving at 1-2, saved six break points to hold for 2-2. The opener went to a tie-break, which Van Assche won 7-4 on his first set point after 67 minutes.

Van Assche broke for a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Tien broke back in the next game, converting his fourth break point. Serving at 3-4, Tien saved five break points to hold for 4-4. Van Assche broke again with Tien serving at 4-5, sealing the match on his second match point.

The Frenchman also had the more attacking numbers. Van Assche served nine aces to Tien’s four and hit 30 winners to the American’s 25. Tien made 31 unforced errors, against 25 for Van Assche.

Van Assche opened his week with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Mariano Navone of Argentina in the round of 64. Wednesday’s result levelled their head-to-head at 1-1, after Tien won 6-3, 6-1 in the round of 32 in Vienna in October.

Rolex Paris Masters 2026 second-round results

Lorenzo Musetti d. Alexander Zverev (1) 7-6 (5), 6-2
Luca Van Assche d. Learner Tien (15) 7-6 (4), 6-4
Novak Djokovic (10) vs Rinky Hijikata (Q) (Wednesday)
Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Alex de Minaur (8) (Wednesday)
Ben Shelton (3) d. Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4
Arthur Rinderknech d. Mattia Bellucci (Q) 6-4, 6-1
Tommy Paul (12) d. Daniel Merida 6-1, 6-1
Quentin Halys d. Frances Tiafoe (7) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (9)
Thiago Agustin Tirante (LL) vs Jan-Lennard Struff (SE) (Wednesday)
Casper Ruud d. Rafael Jodar (9) 6-3, 6-4
Nuno Borges (LL) vs Karen Khachanov (Wednesday)
Ignacio Buse vs Daniil Medvedev (4) (Wednesday)
Arthur Fils (6) vs Tomas Machac (Q) (Wednesday)
Alex Molcan (Q) vs Taylor Fritz (11) (Wednesday)
Matteo Berrettini vs Ugo Humbert (Wednesday)
Alex Michelsen vs Carlos Alcaraz (2) (Wednesday)