Carlos Alcaraz wins Paris Masters for the first time after beating Ben Shelton

Carlos Alcaraz claimed his first Paris Masters title on Sunday, defeating American Ben Shelton in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

The victory made Alcaraz only the second Spanish player to win the tournament, following David Ferrer, who lifted the trophy in 2012. It also marked the Spaniard’s fifth title of the season and his third since returning from a wrist injury.

Alcaraz secured the win with a passing shot on his second match point, following a closely contested encounter that lasted more than an hour and a half.

Shelton, who defeated Alcaraz at the US Open two months earlier, proved a difficult opponent. The American held his serve throughout the first set, saving every break point before a forehand error cost him the tie-break.

Shelton then took a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Alcaraz responded by breaking his opponent twice in the final stages to secure the title.

A long-awaited victory in Paris

The Paris tournament had previously proved a challenging venue for Alcaraz. He had suffered defeats there against left-handed players Hugo Gaston, Ugo Humbert and Cameron Norrie.

Speaking after his victory, Alcaraz described the title as an achievement he had been pursuing for a long time. He also recalled his defeat to Gaston as one of the toughest losses of his career.

The Paris Masters victory takes Alcaraz’s career title tally to 29, including nine Masters 1000 trophies.

He also has the opportunity to complete victories at all nine Masters 1000 tournaments. Winning in Canada and Shanghai would make him only the third player to achieve that milestone, following Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.

Closing the gap in the world rankings

The victory also strengthens Alcaraz’s position ahead of the ATP Finals in Turin, reducing the points gap to ranking leaders Sinner and Alexander Zverev, who are 2,340 and 2,410 points ahead of him respectively.

Alcaraz’s ranking position was affected by a wrist injury that kept him out of competition for four months following the Barcelona tournament last spring. During that period, he missed both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

As a result, he has no ranking points to defend from those tournaments over the corresponding period next season, potentially giving him an opportunity to regain the world number one position.