Norrie stuns Alcaraz, Zverev survives scare at Paris Masters

Britain’s Cameron Norrie stunned world number one Carlos Alcaraz 4-6 6-3 6-4 on Tuesday to reach the third round of the Paris Masters and end the Spaniard’s 17-match winning streak at ATP Masters 1000 level.

Fresh from claiming his eighth title of the season in Tokyo, six-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz was off his game, racking up 54 unforced errors and venting his frustration in terse exchanges with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.

After winning the first set, Alcaraz failed to maintain momentum, while Norrie steadily grew in confidence, with the world number 31 saving two break points in the seventh game of the final set, and holding serve to clinch the match after two hours and 22 minutes.

“Massive (victory), so big for me,” Norrie said. “I have been coming back from my injury. Last year, I lost first round of qualifiers here.

“I have just tried to enjoy my tennis in the second half of the year and I was able to do that and to get a win like this, the biggest of my career, my first over a world number one and especially against the most confident player in the world right now.”

Alcaraz’s defeat was the first time he had lost before a final since March, halting a dominant Masters 1000 run stretching back to the Miami Open, during which he captured titles in Monte Carlo, Rome, and Cincinnati.

After three weeks out of official competition due to an ankle injury which forced him to skip the Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz said he had come into the event in Paris in fine fettle.

“I had a lot of practices here, which I was feeling great, feeling amazing, moving on the court, hitting the ball,” the 22-year-old said.

“But today, even in the first set, that I won, I just felt like I could do much more than what I did. I tried in the second set just to be better, but it was totally the opposite. I just felt even worse.”

The win propelled Norrie into the last 16 at a Masters event for the first time since 2023 in Rome while he has matched his best previous showing in Paris from 2021.

Alcaraz, has failed to win the Paris Masters in five attempts, risks losing the year-end world number one spot if Italy’s Jannik Sinner captures the Paris title this week.

Reigning champion Alexander Zverev battled past Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 7-5 to book his spot in the third round.

A hardfought tie-break separated Zverev and Ugo Carabelli in the opening set, before the 28-year-old cruised through the second in 35 minutes.

Former world number one Daniil Medvedev of Russia was given a walkover to the third round after Grigor Dimitrov withdrew with a shoulder issue.

Valentin Vacherot served up another helping of family drama, beating his cousin Arthur Rinderknech 6-7(9) 6-3 6-4 to advance to the last-16 in their second Masters showdown this month.

The victory came less than three weeks after Vacherot’s fairy-tale run in Shanghai, where he became the lowest-ranked player at 204 to triumph at an ATP Masters 1000 event, catapulting him to 40th in the world rankings. “During the first set, I felt more tension than yesterday (in a straight sets victory over Jiri Lehecka). Was it because it’s Arthur in front of me? Maybe,” Vacherot told reporters.

Norwegian eighth seed Casper Ruud was felled in his opening match at the tournament by 50th-ranked German Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 7-5.

US fourth seed Taylor Fritz safely navigated his way through to the third round with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 win over Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic.

Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime earned a comeback 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Argentinian Francisco Comesana, while US fifth seed Ben Shelton beat Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in straight sets.

Mahut calls time on tennis career: Frenchman Nicolas Mahut delivered an emotional farewell to professional tennis after his doubles defeat at the Paris Masters.

Mahut, 43, won five Grand Slam doubles titles in a career spanning 25 years, but he is best known for losing the longest professional tennis match in history against American John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010.

The match lasted 11 hours and five minutes and took place over three days, with the last set alone - eight hours 11 minutes - being long enough to have broken the previous longest-match record.

Mahut bid adieu to the sport on home soil alongside Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 to Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

“Being able to win Grand Slams was for me one of the best memories,” an emotional Mahut said after the match.

Agencies