Paris (France) (AFP) – The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 3rd player in the world, won his first title at the Masters 1000 in Paris on Sunday after his victory in the final against the American Ben Shelton (4th), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.

Published on: 08/11/2026 - 17:50

Barely successful in the Parisian tournament since his debut in 2021, where he had never gone beyond the quarter-finals, the 23-year-old Murcian won his fifth title of the season, the second in a row indoors after the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna at the end of October.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner also wins his ninth Masters 1000 since the start of his career, the first in this tournament category since Cincinnati in August 2025.

With this 29th trophy in his career, Alcaraz is only one title away from equaling his great rival Jannik Sinner (30), injured and out until the end of the season. He is also more than ever on time to overtake the legends Mats Wilander and Roger Federer, who won 30 titles before turning 24.

The Spaniard was left with a defeat against Ben Shelton, in a match that went down in history since it ended at 3:33 a.m. with the American's five-set victory after 4:28 hours of play in September at the US Open, Alcaraz's return tournament this year after four months without playing due to a right wrist injury.

Sunday, the match started off with a bang, with a lot of intensity on both sides from the first set -- six break points for the American, two for Alcaraz --.

But neither managed to steal the other's throw. There were powerful serves from Shelton (6 aces in the first set), some beautiful rallies and magical shots from Alcaraz, like this returned volley after a lob attempt from the American to get back to 3-3.

As at Flushing Meadows in September, the first set was played in a tie-break. And they both took all the risks, until a too strong forehand from Shelton which gave Alcaraz the first round after 1h05 of play.

In the second set, Shelton was very offensive from the start, when Alcaraz had problems serving, until offering the first break of the match at 3-2 after two double faults.

But the Spaniard raised the tone thanks to two passing shots on Shelton's too-fair climbs to the net to erase his deficit and then get back to 4-4.

Then, when serving at 6-5 to push his opponent to the tie-break, the American narrowly missed and offered two match points to Alcaraz, who converted the second with a whipped backhand after opening the court.

© 2026 AFP

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