Spanish tennis star Alcaraz defeats Shelton to claim Paris Masters title

Second seed Carlos Alcaraz beat third seed Ben Shelton on Sunday to claim the Paris Masters crown for the first time.

The Spaniard, who was off the circuit between April and August to nurse a wrist injury, saw off the 24-year-old American 7-6, 7-5 to lift his fifth title of the season and avenge his quarter-final defeat at the US Open in New York in September.

"Today, it was one ​of the toughest challenges we have in tennis right now, facing ⁠Ben Shelton," said Alcaraz who won the Vienna Open last Sunday.

"Ben is doing better and better with ​every tournament so it's going to be even tougher facing him. So I'm just really happy that I found the way."

In his five previous visits to the Paris Masters, Alcaraz had never advanced past the quarter-finals.

And twice against Taylor Fritz during the quarter-finals, it appeared the trend would continue when he had to save two separate match points.

But once he had emerged from that encounter, Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud for the third time on the trot to move into the final.

"Coming here every year, not finding my best tennis but me and the team never gave up," said Alcaraz after receiving the trophy from Boris Becker who won the inaugural tournament in 1986.

"We had really painful losses here and we always said: 'Try again,'" he added.

Shelton, who has just taken on Alcaraz's former coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, was magnanimous in defeat.

"It's so difficult to win Vienna and Paris, especially changing [playing] surfaces they way you've just done.

"You're an incredible champion. Every time I play against you, you force me to play my best tennis. It's great to see you back on the tour. I'm really happy for you."

29th career title

The victory over Shelton at the Plenitude Arena in La Défense, western Paris, furnished Alcaraz with the 29th title of his career.

Next Sunday in Turin, the 23-year-old will vie with the likes of Shelton, world number one Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev to add the season-ending championships to his trophy cabinet.

Alcaraz loss in Shanghai confirms Zverev as end-of-year tennis world number one

In his first visit in 2023 to the eight-man event, Alcaraz reached the semi-finals. The following year, he was eliminated after the round robin stages.

In 2025, he lost to Jannik Sinner in the final.

Sinner will be absent due to injury from the 2026 field which features France's top player Arthur Fils as well as Flavio Cobolli, Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jodar who will compete at the tournament for the first time.

The eight men will be split into two groups of four and play each other once.

The winners of each pool will take on the runner-up from the other group for a place in the final.

(With newswires)