Alcaraz Beats Shelton 7-6 (5), 7-5 to Win Paris Masters
Carlos Alcaraz beat Ben Shelton 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the Paris Masters final on Sunday 8 November 2026. It was his ninth title at an ATP Masters 1000 event, one of the biggest tournaments on the men's tour after the four Grand Slams.
Paris was a first win for Alcaraz, and it came on his sixth attempt. He is the first Spaniard to win the title since David Ferrer in 2012. Alcaraz is a seven-time Grand Slam champion and the reigning Australian Open champion, and he had won three titles since losing to Shelton at the US Open.
The stakes were clear. Alcaraz was ranked world No. 3 and Shelton was world No. 4. Rankings work on points from recent results, and the top players are seeded, which means they are kept apart in the early rounds. Alcaraz was the second seed in Paris and Shelton was the third seed.
The final was a rematch. In September, Shelton beat Alcaraz in the US Open quarter-final, and that match went to a fifth set. The fifth set was decided by a tiebreak and lasted four and a half hours. Shelton went on to reach the US Open final.
Alcaraz had to work hard to get to Sunday. On Friday night he saved two match points against Taylor Fritz, winning 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-3. A match point is one point away from winning the whole match, so saving two meant Fritz was close to going through. In the semi-final, Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in 86 minutes.
The final opened with a tiebreak. A tiebreak is a short game played when a set reaches 6-6, and the first player to seven points wins it by at least two. Alcaraz won that tiebreak 7-5 to take the first set. The second set went to him 7-5.
Two sets, one title, and a result that puts Alcaraz at the top of a Paris list that Spanish fans have waited more than a decade to see him join. For Shelton, the loss ends a run that had carried him to the US Open final and kept him in the top four of the rankings.
