Cameron Norrie of Great Britain came back to stun No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Round of 32 on Tuesday at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Alcaraz is the World No. 1, but the result put a halt to his 17-match winning streak in ATP Masters 1000 events. He had previously won the Monte-Carlo Masters, the Italian Open and the Cincinnati Open this year to go with his triumphs at the French and U.S. Opens.
Norrie, ranked 31st in the world, secured his first win over a No. 1 player by saving 4 of 5 break points and winning 41 of 52 first-service points (78.8%). The last time Norrie faced Alcaraz — in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on July 8 — Alcaraz breezed to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 triumph.
“Massive. So big for me,” Norrie said. “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 No. 1 and especially against the most confident player in the world right now, with Sinner combined.
“I am just so pleased 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 tough and get the win, so I am really pleased.”
No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz took care of Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a Round of 32 fixture late Tuesday. Alcaraz and Fritz were among the eight seeds who received first-round byes.
In other Round of 32 matches, No. 5 seed Ben Shelton beat Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 7-6 (4), 6-3, and No. 12 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia swept Learner Tien 6-4, 6-4. Shelton and Rublev meet in the next round.
In the eight matches that closed out the Round of 64, the lone upset saw Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot take down Czech No. 14 seed Jiri Lehecka 6-1, 6-3 in a tidy 54 minutes.
No. 9 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime avoided a similar fate, rallying past Argentine qualifier Francisco Comesana 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-3. Russian 11th seed Daniil Medvedev beat Spaniard Jaume Munar 6-1, 6-3, while Spanish 15th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina charged past Frenchman Valentin Royer 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, 19, followed up his title at the Swiss Indoors last week by rallying past Canadian Denis Shapovalov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
“In tennis you have to change the mindset week after week,” Fonseca said. “I won two days ago and now I am here playing Paris. I am very happy to change the mindset and be ready for this match. I lost the first set and after I changed a few things and I am very happy with the way I was mentally in this match. I wasn’t playing my best in the beginning, I felt my hip a bit, but it is all good, nothing we can’t adjust for the next round and we keep going.”
Also advancing out of the first round were Canada’s Gabriel Diallo, France’s Corentin Moutet and Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
–Field Level Media
