One of tennis' all-time greats takes on one of the sport's brightest prospects on Sunday as Novak Djokovic faces Holger Rune in the Paris Masters final.
Novak Djokovic is currently on a 13-match winning streak and is targeting a record 39th Masters 1000 title in the French capital.
Meanwhile, rising star Holger Rune has already defeated four top 10 players in Paris this week to reach his first Masters final at the age of 19.
Match preview
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After missing this year's US Open, Novak Djokovic has returned to the Tour with a burning desire to end 2022 on a high.
After claiming back-to-back titles in Tel Aviv and Astana, the 21-time Grand Slam champion has once again blossomed at the Paris Masters, where he is seeking to expand his record title tally to seven on Sunday.
Djokovic, who is currently ranked seventh in the ATP rankings, dropped just 18 games in his first three matches played this week.
The Serbian began his campaign with a closely contested two-set win over America's Maxime Cressy, before breezing through his next two matches by dropping only five games in his third-round clash with US Open semi-finalist Karen Khachanov and thrashing Italian world number 23 Lorenzo Musetti 6-0 6-3.
However, Djokovic was put through his paces in the last four when he edged out Stefanos Tsitsipas in a marathon encounter that lasted 142 minutes.
Djokovic's record in semi-final matches played at the Paris Masters now stands at a perfect 8-0 and he is through to his 56th Masters 1000 title match, which is a series record.
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Holger Rune, who reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the French Open in June, is one of the most in-form players on the men's Tour after winning 18 out of his past 20 matches, although it is this week in Bercy where he has elevated his game to a new level.
In his opening match at the tournament, Rune saved a trio of match points before defeating three-time major winner Stanislas Wawrinka in a marathon tussle.
Using the momentum generated from that victory, the Dane went on to record four straight wins over top-10 players, defeating world number 10 Hubert Hurkacz and world number seven Andrey Rublev in straight sets.
Then in the quarter-finals, his highly anticipated clash with world number one Carlos Alcaraz ended prematurely with the Spaniard retiring in the second set due to injury.
Rune's latest victory was over another player who has been rich in form recently, Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The Canadian was on a 16-match winning streak and had beaten the world number 18 just six days earlier in the final of the Swiss Indoors, but Rune avenged that loss on Saturday with a solid 6-4 6-2 triumph.
So far in the tournament, Rune has only been broken twice in 57 service games.
The final will be the most prestigious Rune has played in his career so far, with his only silverware on the Tour coming in the form of two ATP 250 trophies which were won earlier this year on the clay in Munich and indoors in Stockholm - a stark contrast to Djokovic's tally of 90.
Tournament so far
NOVAK DJOKOVIC:
First round: vs. BYE
Second round: vs. Maxime Cressy 7-6[1] 6-4
Third round: vs. Karen Khachanov 6-4 6-1
Quarter-final: vs. Lorenzo Musetti 6-0 6-3
Semi-final: Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 3-6 7-6[4]
HOLGER RUNE:
First round: vs. Stan Wawrinka 4-6 7-5 7-6[3]
Second round: vs. Hubert Hurkacz 7-5 6-1
Third round: vs. Andrey Rublev 6-4 7-5
Quarter-final: vs. Carlos Alcaraz 6-3 6-6 ret
Semi-final: Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-2
Head To Head
US Open (2020) - first round: Djokovic def Rune 6-1, 6-7[5] 6-2 6-1
Djokovic has only played Rune once on the Tour before, which was in the first round of the 2021 US Open.
The match is one that Rune has mixed emotions about with it being the first he ever played in the main draw of a major; Djokovic largely dominated proceedings in their New York encounter but he did drop a set against the youngster.
We say: Djokovic to win in three sets
Being pushed to his limits by his younger peers is a challenge that Djokovic thrives on, and playing at a tournament where he has won 13 matches in a row, the Serbian should claim his 91st title.
However, an increasingly-confident Rune will be no pushover and it would come as no surprise if the final goes the full distance - he certainly has the weapons to prove problematic for Djokovic but his game is still very raw compared to that of the former world number one.
