Alcaraz beats Ruud to set up Paris Masters final showdown with Shelton

Carlos Alcaraz. Pic/AP, PTI

Riding the momentum of his stunning quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz, Carlos Alcaraz brushed aside Casper Ruud to reach his first Rolex Masters final.

The Spaniard did not face a break point in his 86-minute win against Ruud, whom he now leads 7-1 in the pair's ATP Head-2-Head series.

With his win against Ruud, Alcaraz reached the final at a seventh different ATP Masters 1000 event. The 23-year-old has now reached 11 championship matches at Masters 1000 tournaments overall, with only title-match appearances in Canada and Shanghai missing from his collection, ATP reports.

Ruud resisted Alcaraz's first two break opportunities at 1-1 and 2-2. But with the first set delicately poised, the Spaniard struck in the seventh game. A perfectly timed break handed him the initiative and ultimately the set, 6-4 after 46 minutes.

Alcaraz was almost untouchable behind serve. He won 78 per cent of points on his first delivery and an outstanding 86 per cent on his second, while seven forehand winners repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet.

The second set followed a remarkably similar pattern. With both players serving comfortably and producing clean, high-quality tennis punctuated by flashes of brilliance, a tie-break appeared increasingly likely as they reached 4-4. But Alcaraz had other ideas.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion seized his opportunity late in the set, converting his second break point of the stanza before serving out a 6-4, 6-4 victory in just 86 minutes.

Awaiting Alcaraz will be Ben Shelton, the man with whom he contested one of the matches of the season in the quarter-finals of the US Open. Neither player has forgotten that extraordinary encounter.

"I'm happy to be in the final. I can't wait and I'll prepare for it as well as possible. I really want my revenge. The last time I played Ben was an incredible and difficult match. I'll need to be better in the big moments than I was at the US Open," said Alcaraz.

Alcaraz leads Shelton 3-1 in the pair's ATP Head-2-Head series: Most recently, Shelton famously outlasted the Spaniard in a five-set thriller at this year's US Open, while Alcaraz won the two players' only previous clash indoors, at the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin.

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