Carlos Alcaraz Wins the Rolex Paris Masters for the First Time, Beating Ben Shelton

Updated November 9, 2026.

Carlos Alcaraz won the Rolex Paris Masters for the first time on Sunday, November 8, beating American Ben Shelton 7-6 (5), 7-5 in one hour and 57 minutes at the Plenitude Arena, the ATP reported. It is his ninth Masters 1000 title and his fifth of 2026.

The final

Shelton, the third seed, pushed Alcaraz early. Trailing 1-2 on his own serve, Alcaraz came back from 0/40 and saved four break points to hold. At 3-3, Shelton saved two break points of his own with a pair of volleys. The first set went to a tie-break and lasted 65 minutes, and Alcaraz took it when Shelton hit a forehand long.

Shelton broke midway through the second set. Alcaraz levelled at 4-4 in the eighth game, then won the match on his second match point, running down a forehand pass to his right and finishing with a backhand into an empty court.

“It is something I have been chasing for a long time,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview, quoted by the ATP. After his semifinal, he said his best previous result in Paris was the quarterfinals.

How he got there

Alcaraz saved two match points against Taylor Fritz in a three-set quarterfinal on Friday. On Saturday he beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 without facing a break point, the ATP said. Shelton reached the final by beating Frenchman Luca Van Assche, the home favorite, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

A comeback year

Alcaraz returned at the US Open in September after four months out with a wrist injury, and lost to Shelton there in a five-set quarterfinal. Since then he has won titles in Tokyo, Vienna and Paris and has won 19 of 21 matches. Only Jannik Sinner, with six, has won more titles this year. Alcaraz is 23 and ranked No. 3.

He is the third player since 1990 to win Masters 1000 titles in five straight years, after Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. He has now won seven of the nine Masters events, with Canada and Shanghai still missing. He is also the second Spaniard to win in Paris, after David Ferrer in 2012.

Turin next

Alcaraz now plays the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin from November 15 to 22, with the draw on Thursday, November 12. He is in a field of eight with Alexander Zverev, Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jodar. Fils is the first Frenchman to qualify since Gaël Monfils in 2016, and Alcaraz and Jodar are the first two Spaniards to qualify directly since 2015, according to the tournament.

Read also: three police officers stand trial in Paris for the Michel Zecler case, Paris Saint-Germain defeats Villarreal 6-0 in the Champions League and Balenciaga names Martine Rose as new creative director.

Source: ATP Tour (final report, semifinal report); Nitto ATP Finals. Published November 6 to 8, 2026.

Oleg Yunakov