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

Luca Van Assche fell short in his bid to ​become the first French winner of the ​Paris Masters since 2008, but he ‌will ​take plenty of positives from a strong run which ended in a semi-final defeat by world number four Ben Shelton. Van Assche, ranked 47th ‌in the world, pushed Shelton hard and took the first set in Saturday's semi-final, before eventually losing 5-7 6-3 6-4 to the American in front of home fans.

"It is true that this week is ‌very important for me because I have a lot of high-level matches under my belt in ‌a row. I played Shelton, who is number four in the world," the 22-year-old told reporters after his defeat. "That showed everything that I could do well, where I have some room for progress. This will help me to have ⁠more self-confidence, ​I know now that ⁠I can reach a semi-final.

"I know that I can go toe-to-toe with a player like Shelton today. So there is ⁠a lot of positive things to get from this, and I will try to work more to be ​even better next year." Van Assche's run in Paris means he will rise to a career-high ⁠ranking of 34th in the world when the latest rankings are published on Monday.

Asked if he was aiming to be among ⁠the ​seeded players at next year's Australian Open in January, he said: "I don't think I'm going to think along those lines. "Of course it helps being a seeded player. I will be 34 ⁠in the ranking.

"It's a very good ranking. It's very positive. But above all, I will try to ⁠remain focused on my ⁠game, on learning new skills, on progressing, and then the ranking will follow." Shelton will face seven-times Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the ‌Paris Masters ‌final later on Sunday.