The Rolex Paris Masters, the last of the season’s 1,000 tour events, turned exciting on Tuesday as first-round matches got under way, bringing in the top eight after the opening round bye.
I’m just so happy with the way I did it. I had a lot of chances and had to keep pushing and going for more and I was able to stay strong and get the win so I’m very satisfied Cameron Norrie
And there could have been no bigger shock than witnessing the loss of world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz, only the third time the top seed has been beaten in his opening match in the French capital.
The culprit on this occasion was Great Britain’s number 2, Cameron Norrie, with his 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory, the best victory of his career.
Norrie, who reached the second round after knocking out Argentine Sebastain Baez in this opening round, stated after that victory that he was determined to take the match to the Spaniard when they met the next day.
And so he did, taking full advantage of Alcaraz’s lack of competitive play as the Spaniard had opted to skip events after winning in Tokyo at the end of September to take part in an exhibition event in Saudi Arabia.
Despite winning the first set, Alcaraz struggled to pick up his game, making 54 unforced errors during the two-hour, 22-minute clash, which saw his timing spot on.
Carlos Alcaraz (L) congratulates Cameron Norrie on his victory
(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
“Huge, so big for me,” said Norrie after his own excellent performance. “I’m back from my injury. Last year I lost the first qualifying round here. I just tried to enjoy my tennis in the second half of the year and I succeeded and I was able to get a win like this, the biggest of my career, my first against a world number 1 and especially against the most confident player in the world at the moment, with Sinner combined. I’m just so happy with the way I did. I had a lot of chances and had to keep pushing and going for more and I was able to stay strong and get the victory, so I’m very satisfied.
The British southpaw reached the round of 16 at a Masters event for the first time since Rome (2023) and equaled his best result in Paris (2021). The 30-year-old, who won his only Masters crown at Indian Wells in 2021, raised his fist in the air after sealing victory on his second match point before turning to his box to celebrate.
“I played a very, very good first set. I thought it was close. He just took his chances and I didn’t,” Norrie added after ending Alcaraz’s 17-match winning streak. “I wanted to keep pushing and honestly it was such a physical match. I did some training with my fitness coach Vasek and I told my team that this is even harder than the conditioning sessions with Vasek and he makes them tough sessions. So I think I felt quite comfortable with that and I just wanted to keep pushing him and I saw him talking to his team a lot and that gave me some confidence.”
With both players trying to dictate play from the net, it was Norrie who blinked first with a double fault at 2-2, giving Alcaraz the chance to go ahead and break it and punch through to take the first set.
Alcaraz then struggled in the second as he searched for his rhythm and an answer to Norrie’s heavy top spinning forehand as the Brit stormed back to level.
And that scenario continued in the decider, despite all the advice he received from his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero who was in his box.
The Spaniard lost his serve in the seventh game of the set when an excited Norrie hit a backhand pass crosscourt and then held off two breakback points in the next game as he held on to secure the biggest win of his career.
“That 4-3 match was crucial,” added Norrie, a former top ten player currently ranked 31st. “I saved a few break points there and when I went to serve for the match, I went for a walk with my coach this morning and we talked about serving for a match and what I had to say to myself because I was serving so tight for the match against Baez yesterday. I was 0-40 on my serve, but I managed to get it. I told myself that I deserved to be at this moment and wanted to be here, so I felt quite relaxed about that, and it was a nice walk and a very important walk.”
Norrie will then face a wildcard, Valentin Vacherot, the surprise Shanghai Masters champion or Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who are cousins.
In other second-round action, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Andrey Rublev all advanced with straight sets wins over qualifier Aleksander Vukic, Flavio Cobolli and Learner Tien respectively.
Carlos Alcaraz may lose the top position.
(Photo by Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
The loss of Alcaraz could well open the door for Jannik Sinner to regain the world number 1 that the Spaniard relieved from him when he won in Tokyo five weeks ago, but the Italian needs to win the Paris title to depose him.
Meanwhile, in the Race to Turin and the battle for number 1 at the end of the year, Alcaraz leads his rival by 2,400 points, which seems an unbridgeable gap.
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