Novak Djokovic secured his place in the Paris Rolex Masters quarter-finals without even having to pick up his racket after Gael Monfils withdrew due to injury ©Getty Images

World number one Novak Djokovic earned a walkover win against Gael Monfils after the Frenchman retired injured before a ball was even struck at the Paris Rolex Masters.

Serbian Djokovic, who is seeded number one and is the heavy favourite to win his 62nd Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour title, has now had two days off and will face American Taylor Fritz in the next round. 

Fritz ended Britain's Cameron Norrie's excellent run, with the latter hoping to secure a place in the looming ATP Tour Finals.

Instead, Fritz won in straight sets, 6-3 7-6, and will now gear up for the Djokovic challenge, which he has failed twice already this year.

"Obviously (it's) very tough playing Novak," he said afterwards.

"It's going to be my third time this year so hopefully this time will be different."

Alexander Zverev defeated Grigor Dimitrov in a three-set thriller to secure his quarter-final place ©Getty Images
Alexander Zverev defeated Grigor Dimitrov in a three-set thriller to secure his quarter-final place ©Getty Images

The game of the day saw Germany's Alexander Zverev defeat Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov in three sets, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.

The number six seed - Norway's Casper Ruud and the number seven seed - Poland's Hubert Hurkacz - also secured their place in the quarter-finals, with wins over Marcos Giron of the United States and Dominik Koepfer of Germany respectively.

James Duckworth is one of only two unseeded players remaining in the draw as he won the all-Australian round of 16 clash against Alexei Popyrin.

To close out the night, Russia's second seed Daniil Medvedev defeated Sebastian Korda of the US.

Competition continues tomorrow with the men's singles quarter-finals.