Alex de Minaur’s recent good run of form continued at the Paris Masters as he battled past the in-form Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-3 7-5.

The Australian No.1, who reached the final of the Antwerp Open in his most recent European outing last month, took an hour and 27 minutes to subdue Sonego, who was coming off one of the best weeks of his career.

The Italian had reached the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna at the weekend, having destroyed the world No.1 Novak Djokovic en route.

Yet Sonego was brought down to earth quickly by the 21-year-old De Minaur, who broke him twice in the opening set to take it convincingly in 38 minutes.

It was tighter in the second set as De Minaur was unable to convert a couple of break points mid-set but with the scent of victory, the 16th seed pounced superbly at 6-5 up to break Sonego’s delivery for the third time in the match, this time to love.

In contrast, the Australian world No.25 didn’t even offer the sniff of a break to the man ranked seven places below him.

De Minaur’s bid to reach the quarter-finals, though, looks rather tougher as he will have to get past Daniil Medvedev, the third seed.

The Russian was leading 5-2 in the first-set tiebreak when his South African opponent, Kevin Anderson, had to retire with a right leg injury.

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev continued his superb run, taking just 55 minutes to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2 6-2 and extend his winning streak to nine matches as he seeks to capture a third straight Tour trophy after his Cologne double last month.

Zverev looked comfortable despite his personal off-court matters having recently been in the spotlight, with one ex-girlfriend pregnant with his child and another, Olya Sharypova, making allegations of domestic abuse from the US Open finalist.

Diego Schwartzman made a good start in his bid to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals with his 7-5 6-3 victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

With Italian world No.10 Matteo Berrettini already eliminated, Schwartzman now needs to make the semi-finals in Paris to qualify for London’s finale.