Paris (France) (AFP) – Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 in the world, won this Friday in an exciting match against the American Taylor Fritz (12th) in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters 1000, a tournament that the Spaniard is seeking to win for the first time.

First modification: 11/06/2026 - 23:03 Last modification: 11/06/2026 - 23:52

In a vibrant duel with great play by both players, the player from Murcia ended up winning 6-7 (10/12), 7-5, 6-3 after having saved two match points.

Fritz's defeat opens the doors to the end-of-season Masters for another Spanish tennis player, Rafa Jódar.

Alcaraz, 22, will face on Saturday the winner of the quarterfinal match between the Norwegian Casper Ruud (23rd) and the Portuguese lucky loser Nuno Borges (49th).

Until now he had never made it past the quarterfinals in Paris, where he had barely had any success since his beginnings in this indoor tournament in 2021.

In the first set, Fritz and Alcaraz starred in a magnificent duel that was decided in an endless tie-break, in which both players had three set points each, before the Spaniard gave in due to an unforced error.

Imperial on serve once again, Fritz continued attacking Alcaraz's serve, who defended tooth and nail before succumbing to another unforced error.

But, as so many times, Alcaraz unleashed his magic. He saved a first match point at 5-3 and closed to 5-4 at the end of the most spectacular point of the tournament, returning a topspin volley on the run with a cross-footed drop shot. Fritz could not help but smile at such a work of art.

The Spaniard raised a second match point at 5-4 and then finally recovered the break disadvantage thanks to an unforced error by Fritz.

Without the first ball, the latter ended up giving the second round to Alcaraz and, dazed by this masterclass, he no longer recovered.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion, for his part, only needed a match point to seal his place in the semifinals.

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"Have I seen myself lost? Have I seen that I could come back? Both things," Alcaraz confessed in the mixed zone.

"I'm not going to deceive you, in the end with 5-3, several match points from the rest, he, who was subtracting very well, was playing very well from the back of the court, then that 5-4, several balls that I saved with several 'passes', with several impressive shots," he analyzed.

"I played good tennis when I had to," concluded the Spaniard after a match of almost three hours on the Central court of the Plenitude Arena pavilion in Paris.

With this defeat, Fritz is now out of the fight for the Masters at the end of the season in Turin (November 15-22), since he had to reach the semifinals to overcome the Spanish Rafael Jódar, 9th in the Race and last classified (in the absence of Sinner, injured).

All the qualifiers for the Turin event are now known, since the American Frances Tiafoe, eighth in the Race and eliminated in the second round in Paris, obtained his ticket to Turin thanks to the defeat of his compatriot Tommy Paul, surpassed by Ben Shelton (4th) in the first match of the day. In his first semifinal in Paris, the finalist of the last US Open will face the Frenchman Luca Van Assche (47th) on Saturday, who defeated the Australian Rinky Hijikata (83rd and coming from the qualifying phase), 6-4, 6-7 (7/4), 7-5 in 2 hours 45 minutes.

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