Carlos Alcaraz had waited two months to settle the score, and on Sunday he did it in straight sets. The Spaniard beat Ben Shelton 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the Paris Masters final, adding a first title at the indoor event to a late-season run that has turned into a winning streak in finals.
The scoreline hides how tense the opening hour was. Shelton came out swinging and forced four break points in a single early game, all of which Alcaraz erased, one with a fierce forehand. The American then saved two break chances of his own at 3-3 with sharp volleys. When the set reached a tie-break, it was Shelton who blinked, sending several forehands beyond the baseline.
The second set briefly tilted the other way. Two double faults from Alcaraz helped Shelton move ahead with a break, and a pair of aces stretched his lead. Alcaraz answered by breaking back for 4-4, then pulled away, converting his second match point at 6-5 after just under two hours on court.
For the 23-year-old, it is a ninth Masters 1000 trophy, a fifth title of 2026 and the 29th of his career. According to Reuters, he is also the first Spaniard to lift the Paris trophy since David Ferrer in 2012. Across their meetings so far, Alcaraz now holds four wins to Shelton’s one.
The rematch carried history. Shelton had knocked Alcaraz out of the US Open quarterfinals in September in a five-set thriller, in the Spaniard’s first event after more than four months out with a right wrist injury. Every final he has played since that defeat, in Japan, Austria and France, has ended with him holding the trophy.
Afterwards he called Shelton “one of the toughest challenges” in the sport right now and said the back-to-back titles marked “one step forward mentally” for him.
