Carlos Alcaraz is getting another shot at Ben Shelton.
Nearly two months after the two dueled until after 3 a.m. local time in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, they will meet again Sunday in Paris after they both advanced to the finals of the Rolex Paris Masters on Saturday.
Shelton, seeded third in the tournament, came back after dropping the first set to take down France’s Luca van Assche 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. The difference in each of the first two sets was a service break, as van Assche, ranked 47th, broke Shelton when they were tied 5-5, then served out the following game to take the set.
In the second set, Shelton broke his opponent while up 3-2 and held up on his serve to force a decider.
Van Assche took a 3-1 lead in the third, but Shelton won four consecutive games, including the decisive break at 3-all when he came through on his fourth opportunity of the game.
“I thought Luca was playing great,” said Shelton, who will play in his sixth tour-level final this season, tied with Jannik Sinner for the most this season. “He was really consistent and really good on the move, and I started forcing my shots. I made a significant amount of forehand unforced errors in the first set and really my goal after that was to cut out those unforced errors, to be a little bit more solid, and to use the speed of the court to my advantage instead of fighting it.
“I really found a great rhythm. I started to return better, was getting into more of his service games, and I got better and better as the match went on.”
Alcaraz had a much easier go of it, sweeping Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in 86 minutes. The second-seeded Spaniard broke Ruud once in each set and held his own serve throughout the match. The Spaniard was dominant on serve, winning 40 of 49 points and blasting seven aces with no double faults.
Alcaraz also had nearly the winners of his opponent (27-14) and dominated in every facet of the match.
“Tomorrow is going to be a big day,” said Alcaraz, who will play in the 11th Masters 1000 tournament final of his career, tied with Boris Becker and Daniil Medvedev for ninth all-time. “I’m really happy and excited. I can’t wait and will try to prepare for the match the best that I can and give myself a chance. I really want to take revenge against Ben.
At the U.S. Open, the eighth-seeded Shelton ultimately downed the second-seeded Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, winning 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7) in a match that lasted 4 hours, 28 minutes.
–Field Level Media
