Alcaraz wins Paris Masters with revenge over Shelton

Alcaraz wins Paris Masters for the first time: Carlos Alcaraz beat Ben Shelton 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 in the final on Sunday, 8 November, avenging his US Open quarter-final defeat to the American and taking a nine-match winning run into the ATP Finals, BBC Sport and AFP reported.

The 23-year-old Spaniard, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, claimed the ninth ATP Masters 1000 title of his career. The final lasted just under two hours, a far cry from the five-set epic in New York two months earlier.

How Alcaraz wins Paris Masters final against Shelton

The first set was tense. According to BBC Sport, Alcaraz saved all six break points he faced, including four in one long game at 1-2, while Shelton also saved two. The set went to a tie-break, where Alcaraz won four of the last five points from 4-3 down. On his first set point, his shot clipped the net cord and dropped back on his own side, but Shelton then missed a forehand to hand him the set.

Shelton finally broke in the second set and served for a 5-3 lead. Alcaraz broke back, cupped his ear to the crowd after winning a breathless rally, and broke again to close out the match on his second championship point, winning five of the final six games.

Shelton played without fear and pushed the Spaniard hard. The American has had a stellar year, winning four titles and reaching his first Grand Slam final, BBC Sport noted, and Alcaraz had said before the final that his reflexes would need to be "ten out of ten" against Shelton's big serve.

"It's something I've been chasing for a long time. I had some of the toughest losses of my career here," Alcaraz said. "Today was one of the toughest challenges we have in tennis right now, facing Ben. Great champion, great player, great person."

A comeback season gathers pace

Alcaraz began the year by winning the Australian Open, becoming the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam. He then spent four months out with a wrist injury, and his comeback event at the US Open ended in that late-night quarter-final loss to Shelton.

Since then, the results have been remarkable:

• 17 matches, one loss: three titles in the two months since the US Open, BBC Sport said.
• Nine straight wins: including the title in Vienna before Paris.
• Five tour-level titles in 2026: only the injured Jannik Sinner, with six, has more, AFP said.
• Match points saved: he survived two against Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals, the fourth time he has won a title after facing match point.

He has now won seven of the nine different Masters 1000 events. Only Canada and Shanghai are missing if he is to join Novak Djokovic and Sinner as the only men to win all nine. With two French Open titles and now the Paris Masters, he is also unbeaten in finals in the French capital.

What next: the ATP Finals in Turin

World number three Alcaraz heads to the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, which run from 15 to 22 November, chasing his first title at the event. For world number four Shelton, Sunday was his first defeat in a Masters 1000 final after winning his previous two, both at the Canadian Open.

Tennis fans in Thailand can follow Turin alongside a busy run of motorsport and football. Lando Norris has just won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, and in the Premier League Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield. Closer to home, the Laguna Phuket Triathlon takes place in Bang Tao on 15 November, the day the ATP Finals begin.

For a full match report, see BBC Sport's coverage of the Paris Masters final.

Photo: Carlos Alcaraz at the 2026 US Open; Alcaraz wins Paris Masters two months after losing to Shelton in New York (Oleg Yunakov via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).