Carlos Alcaraz breezed through to the finals of the Paris Masters against Casper Ruud.
The Spaniard barely made it out of second gear as he raced to a 6-4, 6-4 victory against a Ruud who was clearly dealing with the effects of a knee injury.
Nevertheless, Alcaraz was solid enough without the fireworks of his performance against Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals and he will now look ahead to a final meeting against Ben Shelton.
Alcaraz and Shelton last met in the US Open quarterfinals, whic was one of the best matches of the year, as Shelton won a fifth set decider to knock the Spaniard out of the Grand Slam.
Speaking to Sky Sports straight after his Paris Masters semifinal victory, Alcaraz looked ahead to his match against Shelton in the final.
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“Difficult conditions to be honest for me. This court doesn’t suit very well to my game. I try to adapt the best I can and I’m really happy that every match I’m feeling more comfortable, which is great and I’m ready to for the final,” said Alcaraz.
“It’s probably one of the most difficult challenges I can face in tennis right now. Ben is playing great tennis. Big serve, from the baseline he’s playing really solid, really strong physically.
“Last time, 7-6 in the fifth, hell of a match, so I’m going to try and do a little bit better the things that I didn’t do well in that US Open match. I’m going to enjoy this moment.
“I was chasing this moment, playing the final here for a long time, the furthest I went was the quarterfinals, so it’s going to be a big day for me for sure.
“I really want to take the revenge against Ben. Last time, it was a pretty tough match that it was just about details. I’m going to try to do different things in those little moments, important moments, that I probably did not well the last time. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a great match to watch and for me to play and, of course, to learn.”
Before the 2026 event, Alcaraz had only reached the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters. It was his second-worst performing Masters tournament of the nine on the ATP Tour calendar, so this has been a welcome change for the Spaniard.
Should he win the Paris Masters this year, it will be his seventh of the nine Masters titles on offer collected so far in his career.
All he will need should he win the Paris Masters, is the Canadian Open and the Shanghai Masters.
Still, there is plenty of tennis to be played and Shelton will provide a very tough test for Alcaraz. The match will also be overlooked by the shadow of Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former coach of Alcaraz who is set to work with Shelton in the 2027 season.
The final takes place on Sunday, 8th November, with the match set to begin at 2pm UK time.
