“I’m fresh, I’m hungry”: Alcaraz reaches his first Paris final without facing a break point, sets up US Open rematch with Shelton
Carlos Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour and 27 minutes, without facing a break point, to reach his first Rolex Paris Masters final, where he will face Ben Shelton in a rematch of their US Open quarter-final.
Tennis – Rolex Paris Masters 2026 – France – Alcaraz Carlos – Espagne
Carlos Alcaraz is into the Rolex Paris Masters final for the first time. The second seed beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour and 27 minutes on Saturday, and sealed it with an ace on his second match point. After last year’s Nitto ATP Finals final in Turin, he has now reached the final at both of the sport’s biggest indoor events.
On Sunday, he faces Ben Shelton in a rematch of their US Open quarter-final, one of the matches of the season, won by the American 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7). Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1.
Alcaraz was untouchable on serve. He won all ten of his service games, did not face a single break point and won 31 of his 36 first-serve points (86 per cent). He hit 27 winners to Ruud’s 14 and won nine of his 11 points at the net.
“I think I served, if not the best, one of the best days that I’ve served, and it made me feel more comfortable on court,” Alcaraz said on court. “I’m really proud and really happy about it. It was really tough. He was playing pretty well indoors, serving pretty well, moving well. You don’t find the window easily, you have to earn every point, so I had to be really focused on my game and play really, really well.”
One break per set was enough. Ruud saved break points at 1-1 and 2-2 in the opener, but Alcaraz broke at 3-3 after a long deuce game, then served out the set to love. In the second set, the Norwegian held until 4-4, when Alcaraz broke from 0-40. He served it out from 40-0, finishing with an ace.
Ruud, who was looking for his second final of the season after Rome, won only 46 per cent of his second-serve points and made three double faults. He now trails Alcaraz 1-7 in their head-to-head. His only win came at the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals, and Alcaraz has won all three of their meetings since, in Tokyo in 2025, at Indian Wells this year and now in Paris.
From two match points down to the final
The contrast with his quarter-final could hardly be bigger. On Friday, Alcaraz had to save two match points to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-3. Against Ruud, he never looked in danger.
Paris had long resisted him at this stage of the season. “I’m feeling probably more fresh than I’m used to feeling at the end of the season,” Alcaraz said. “This year has been a little bit different from the previous ones. I had more time at home recovering, so I was hungry to come back to the tour as soon as I could. At the beginning of the week, I said I was going to do great at this tournament sooner or later, so I’m just really happy that I made it this week.”
“I’m fresh, I’m hungry, I’m ambitious to go further, to go for more,” he added. “Tomorrow I’m going to step on the court doing whatever it takes to take the trophy home. I’m excited and I can’t wait.”
It is the 38th tour-level final of his career and his 11th at Masters 1000 level. He is the fourth Spaniard to reach the Paris final, after Sergio Casal in 1986, Rafael Nadal in 2007 and David Ferrer in 2012 and 2013. It is also his sixth final of the season, level with Jannik Sinner and with Shelton, and his eighth win in a row since his title in Vienna last week.
Rolex Paris Masters 2026 semi-final results
Carlos Alcaraz (2) d. Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4
Ben Shelton (3) d. Luca Van Assche 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
