Carlos Alcaraz saved two match points to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7(10), 7-5, 6-3 in the Paris Masters quarter-finals. Ben Shelton, Luca Van Assche and Casper Ruud also reached the last four, and the day’s results settled the final two places at the ATP Finals for Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jodar.
Paris, France: Friday’s quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters produced a three-set escape for Carlos Alcaraz, two more three-set battles and a straight-sets win, and they fixed Saturday’s semi-finals: Alcaraz against Ruud, and Shelton against Van Assche. They also closed the race for the last places at the ATP Finals in Turin.
Alcaraz survives Fritz
Alcaraz beat Fritz 6-7(10), 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 45 minutes, and he had to escape to do it. Fritz won a first-set tie-break 12-10 after both men had missed set points, then went a break up in the second set and reached 5-3. Serving for the match, he earned two match points. Alcaraz saved both, broke him, and won four straight games to take the set 7-5. In the decider he moved ahead 3-1 and closed out the win with a forehand.
The result ended Fritz’s bid to reach the ATP Finals and confirmed 20-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jodar as the last of the eight singles qualifiers, a debut in Turin. Alcaraz now meets Ruud in the semi-finals for a place in Sunday’s title match.
Shelton beats Paul, and Tiafoe goes to Turin
Third seed Ben Shelton beat 12th seed Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach his first Paris semi-final. He hit 11 aces to Paul’s five and was broken once, in the second set. Paul needed to reach the final to pass Jodar for the last Turin place, so the defeat ended his hopes and sent Frances Tiafoe, 28, to the ATP Finals. Shelton had already qualified for the event, which runs from 15 to 22 November.
Van Assche goes the distance
Luca Van Assche, the last Frenchman in the draw, beat qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5 in 2 hours and 44 minutes to reach a first Masters 1000 semi-final. Hijikata, who had beaten Novak Djokovic earlier in the week, took the second-set tie-break after leading 6-2 and went 2-0 up in the decider. Van Assche fought back, broke Hijikata in the final game and converted the first of three match points when his opponent put a backhand volley into the net. He had been ranked No. 47 coming into the match.
Ruud ends the lucky loser’s run
Casper Ruud beat lucky loser Nuno Borges 7-6(5), 6-4, ending a run that had made Borges the first lucky loser to reach a Paris Masters quarter-final. Borges had not been broken in the main draw before this match. Ruud took the first-set tie-break 7-5, saved two break points at 2-3 in the second set, broke in the next game and served out to love. It avenged his defeat by Borges in the Basel last 16 in October. Ruud’s and Borges’s earlier wins are covered in our round-up of Thursday’s last 16, and the upsets of Zverev and Djokovic in our report from the second round.
Results (Rolex Paris Masters, quarter-finals, Friday 6 November 2026): Ben Shelton (3) bt Tommy Paul (12) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Luca Van Assche bt Rinky Hijikata (Q) 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5; Carlos Alcaraz (2) bt Taylor Fritz (11) 6-7(10), 7-5, 6-3; Casper Ruud bt Nuno Borges (LL) 7-6(5), 6-4.
Saturday’s semi-finals: Carlos Alcaraz v Casper Ruud; Ben Shelton v Luca Van Assche.
