Carlos Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 without facing a break point, and Ben Shelton came from a set down to beat Luca Van Assche 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. They meet in Sunday’s Paris Masters final, with Alcaraz chasing revenge for his US Open loss.
Nanterre, France: Saturday’s semi-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters paired the tournament’s second and third seeds, though the two routes to the final could hardly have been more different. Alcaraz needed only two sets and never looked threatened, while Shelton had to rebuild from a set and a break down against an unseeded Frenchman playing in his first Masters 1000 semi-final.
Alcaraz never blinks against Ruud
Alcaraz beat Ruud 6-4, 6-4 and did not face a single break point. He broke for 4-3 in the first set and closed out the set with an ace. In the second he broke again in the ninth game and finished the match with another ace. A volleyed drop-shot winner in the fourth game of the second set drew some of the loudest applause of the afternoon. The win was his seventh over Ruud in eight meetings, and it came a day after he saved two match points against Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals.
Shelton turns the third set around
Shelton, the third seed, lost the first set 5-7 to Van Assche, then levelled by taking the second 6-3. The decider turned on a run of games. Van Assche broke for 3-1 with a forehand pass down the line, but Shelton won the next four games, breaking back, holding to love for 3-3 and breaking again as the 22-year-old Frenchman appeared to tire. He served out the match at 5-3 with his 19th ace. Van Assche, whose only career title came on clay at Estoril earlier this year, had reached the last four by beating Lorenzo Musetti and Rinky Hijikata.
A final with a score to settle
Sunday’s final pairs two players chasing a first Paris title. Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1, but Shelton won the most recent meeting, a US Open quarter-final that finished at 3.33am, and Alcaraz has said he wants revenge and intends to change his approach at key moments. Alcaraz is seeking his fifth title of 2026 and the 29th of his career, after winning the Vienna Open last Sunday. Shelton, the US Open runner-up, is chasing a third Masters 1000 title after wins in Toronto in 2025 and Montreal this year.
Results (Rolex Paris Masters, semi-finals, Saturday 7 November 2026): Carlos Alcaraz (2) bt Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4; Ben Shelton (3) bt Luca Van Assche 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Sunday’s final: Carlos Alcaraz v Ben Shelton.
