American players Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe exit Paris Masters in opening round, Andy Murray also loses

PARIS (AP) — Americans Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe lost in the first round of the Paris Masters on Monday.

The 14th-seeded Tiafoe fell to Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4 while 15th-seeded Shelton was undone by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3.

It was Bublik's first hard-court win at a Masters since Miami last year.

Shelton, who won his maiden tour title this month in Tokyo, hit 15 aces but could not recover from the only break of serve in the decider.

Also, Alex de Minaur saved one match point and rallied from 5-2 down in the third set to beat 2016 champion Andy Murray 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5 after a three-hour match. The 13th-seeded de Minaur is unbeaten in six matches against Murray.

De Minaur saved the match point in the ninth game of the deciding set and won the final five games to stay in contention for the ATP Finals. Five of the eight places at the year-end tournament in Turin have already been booked by Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev.

Murray smashed his racket in anger at the end of the match. It was the second time in a month the British player wasted a third-set lead against his Australian rival after de Minaur rallied from a break down in the decider to beat the three-time Grand Slam champion in the first round of the China Open.

The top-ranked Djokovic, who has won the Paris Masters a record six times, is returning to competition for the first time since he played a Davis Cup tie for Serbia in September. The US Open champion is on a 13-match winning run and will open his tournament against Miomir Kecmanovic or Tomas Martin Etcheverry.