Carlos Alcaraz beat Ben Shelton 7-6(5), 7-5 in one hour 57 minutes to win the Paris Masters for the first time. The Spaniard saved four break points in a tight first set, avenged his US Open defeat to Shelton and now heads to the ATP Finals in Turin.
Nanterre, France: Paris had given Carlos Alcaraz some of the toughest defeats of his career, by his own account. On Sunday he finally held the trophy, beating Ben Shelton in two tight sets, 7-6(5), 7-5, to claim his first title in the French capital.
A first set decided by a tie-break
Shelton pressed early and Alcaraz had to survive it, saving four break points in one game. The American had his own anxious moment at 3-3, when he saved two break points of his own to stay level. Neither man could separate the other on serve, so the set went to a tie-break. Alcaraz took it 7-5 when Shelton sent a forehand long on set point.
Alcaraz answers the break
The second set followed a similar pattern until Shelton found a break midway through. Alcaraz responded immediately, breaking back in the eighth game to level at 4-4, and the match turned. He then closed out the set and the match, needing a second match point and finishing with a forehand pass and a backhand into the open court.
Revenge, and a place in the record books
The result avenged Alcaraz’s loss to Shelton in the US Open quarter-final two months earlier, and it stretched his head-to-head lead to 4-1. It was his ninth Masters 1000 title and his first in Paris, and the ATP noted that he is only the third player since 1990, after Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, to win Masters 1000 titles in five consecutive years. He is also the second Spaniard to win in Paris after David Ferrer in 2012.
He reached the final by beating Casper Ruud in the semi-finals. Alcaraz arrived in Paris after winning the Vienna Open and had to fight through the week, saving two match points against Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals. It was his fifth tour-level title of 2026; only Jannik Sinner, with six, has won more this year. He has now won his last nine matches.
“This one means a lot to me,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
Turin next
For Shelton it was a first defeat in a Masters 1000 final after winning both of his previous ones, in Canada. The ATP reported that he has also qualified for the ATP Finals, which run in Turin from 15 to 22 November, and Alcaraz heads there seeking his first title at the season-ender.
