Alcaraz Rallies Past Fritz to Reach First Paris Masters Semifinal

Carlos Alcaraz survived a marathon tiebreak scare to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7(10), 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Paris Masters on Friday, a result that sends the Spaniard into his first semifinal at the Paris indoor event and ends Fritz's run at the tournament. The match, confirmed in the official ATP Tour results, saw Fritz hold two match points in a tense opening-set tiebreak before Alcaraz clawed it back and reeled off the final two sets.

It was Alcaraz's second straight win over Fritz from a losing position; the pair also met at September's Laver Cup, where Alcaraz again came from behind to win. He is now 7-1 in his career against the American and improved his season record to 40-5, according to Tennis Now's match report. "I tried to stay strong mentally," Alcaraz said of his response after dropping the opening set on the tiebreak, adding that he "gave them what they really wanted to watch today," a nod to the capacity crowd at the Accor Arena that stayed for the full three-hour match.

A deep run in Paris

Alcaraz's win came on an afternoon with three other quarterfinals on court. Ben Shelton beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, Casper Ruud beat Nuno Borges 7-6(5), 6-4, and Luca Van Assche beat qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5, leaving Alcaraz, Shelton, Ruud and Van Assche as the tournament's four semifinalists. Borges had entered the draw as a lucky loser, a player who loses in qualifying but gets a main-draw spot after another entrant withdraws, and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before running into Ruud. Alcaraz is due to face Ruud on Saturday, following the bracket logic that had him projected against the winner of the Ruud-Borges match since the draw was made earlier in the week.

The loss cost Fritz more than just a result. He arrived in Paris still chasing a place among the top eight in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, which run Nov. 15-22 in Turin, Italy, and a deep run at the last Masters 1000 event of the season was one of his last realistic chances to close the points gap before the regular season ends. With the ranking points for a semifinal run now out of reach, his path to Turin depends on how the players just above him in the standings perform over the tournament's closing rounds, and on next week's results elsewhere on the tour.

For Alcaraz, Saturday's semifinal is a chance to reach his first Paris Masters final while adding to a season in which he already sits third in the ATP Race to Turin, behind only Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner, with his seven-match win streak now the longest active run on the men's tour. Whoever emerges from the other semifinal, between Shelton and Van Assche, will meet the Alcaraz-Ruud winner in Sunday's final, the last major European title on offer before the tour shifts to Turin for the season finale in late November.