Medvedev is defeated by Popyrin at the Paris Masters.

Medvedev is defeated by Popyrin at the Paris Masters.

Daniil Medvedev continues to seek his inaugural ATP tournament victory of the year following a defeat to Australia's Alexei Popyrin, marking the first time in his career that he has lost to this opponent at the Paris Masters on Wednesday.

Medvedev, who claimed the Paris title in 2020, has struggled to perform well in this indoor tournament in recent years, with the loss to Popyrin representing his third consecutive first-round exit.

Popyrin, currently ranked 24th in the world, has been in excellent form this year, having secured his first Masters title in Montreal in August and defeating Novak Djokovic at the US Open. He triumphed over Medvedev with a score of 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a thrilling second-round encounter.

"This is the first time I have managed to beat him in four attempts," Popyrin remarked. "We have had some intense matches in the past, and it is truly gratifying to have performed so well this time."

Popyrin is set to face Karen Khachanov next, who overcame France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with a scoreline of 6-7 (12/14), 6-1, 6-4.

Despite already qualifying for the season-ending ATP Tour Finals next month, Medvedev demonstrated resilience by rallying twice in the final set. He recovered from a 4-1 deficit to push the match into a tie-break, and after falling behind 4-1 in the tie-break, he managed to level the score at 4-4. However, a double fault at 5-4 allowed Popyrin to secure two match points, which he converted on the first opportunity.

Medvedev is not the only prominent seed to exit early, as both his compatriot Andrey Rublev and Norway's Casper Ruud have also been eliminated.

"It was a challenging match," Medvedev stated. "I could have performed better, yet I had my chances, which I failed to capitalize on. It was a very close contest."

Carlos Alcaraz remains a contender, having won his opening match on Tuesday, and is now favored to clinch the title following the withdrawal of Italian world number one Jannik Sinner due to an intestinal virus.

Alcaraz will play France's Ugo Humbert in the third round, the French number one breezed past America's Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday.

A potential dark horse for the title is Bulgarian eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov who beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7 (9/11), 6-3, 7-5.

Dimitrov still has a chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals, if he won the Paris title he would move past Djokovic (sixth), Ruud (seventh) and Rublev (eighth).

Just the top eight qualify for the climax to the ATP season in Turin.

"I would give a lot to be in (Turin)," said Dimitrov, who reached the Paris final last year.

"I'm in a place where I am still a contender, I'm still fighting against the best players in the world, and still beating the younger guys.

Dimitrov faces Arthur Rinderknech in the next round after the French wild squeezed past American Alex Michelsen 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (9/7).

Germany's world number three Alexander Zverev is already booked into Turin and began his Paris campaign with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 defeat of the Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor.

Waiting for him in the last 16 is another home hope, Arthur Fils, the 20-year-old a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Jan-Lennard Struff.

Britain's Jack Draper lived to fight another day after a gripping 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-4 win over American sixth seed Taylor Fritz.

The winner of last weekend's ATP 500 title in Vienna earned a date with Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur.

It was a memorable day for the French, with a record-equalling five going through to the last 16 after Arthur Cazaux, the world number 85, upset American 19th seed Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to progress with his fellow countrymen Humbert, Fils, Rinderknech and Adrian Mannarino.