# Alcaraz saves two match points to beat Fritz and reach his first Paris semi-final Source: SportsBriefly (https://sportsbriefly.com) Canonical URL: https://sportsbriefly.com/en/tennis/alcaraz-saves-two-match-points-to-beat-fritz-and-reach-his-first-paris-semi-fina Language: en Published: 2026-11-07T03:02:24.294+00:00 Updated: 2026-11-07T03:02:24.347637+00:00 > Carlos Alcaraz saved two match points to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 and reach his first Paris semi-final. ## TL;DR - Carlos Alcaraz saved two match points to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 and reach his first Paris semi-final. - Fritz led by a set and a break and held match points at 5-3 and 5-4 in the second set. - The defeat ended Fritz's hopes of reaching the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. - Rafael Jódar took the eighth and final Turin place without playing on Friday. - Alcaraz faces Casper Ruud in the semi-finals on Saturday after Ruud beat Nuno Borges. ## Key points - Carlos Alcaraz saved two match points to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 and reach his first Paris semi-final. - Fritz led by a set and a break and held match points at 5-3 and 5-4 in the second set. - The defeat ended Fritz's hopes of reaching the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. - Rafael Jódar took the eighth and final Turin place without playing on Friday. - Alcaraz faces Casper Ruud in the semi-finals on Saturday after Ruud beat Nuno Borges. Carlos Alcaraz stood two points from defeat in Paris, then played like a man who had decided the evening belonged to him. The second seed saved two match points against Taylor Fritz, recovered from a set and a break down, and won 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters for the first time. The match lasted two hours and 43 minutes on Court Central at the Plenitude Arena, and its ending changed more than the Paris draw: Fritz lost his last route to the Nitto ATP Finals, while Rafael Jódar secured the eighth and final place in Turin without playing a point. ## A night on the edge in Paris Alcaraz had never gone beyond the quarter-finals in Paris before Friday, and for much of the evening that barrier looked likely to hold. He broke first for 3-2 and served for the opening set at 5-4, but Fritz broke back, then won a 22-point tie-break 12-10 after saving three set points. Fritz converted his third set point, and the momentum stayed with him into the second set. Alcaraz, the seven-time Grand Slam champion, had promised at the start of the week that he would one day do well in Paris, sooner rather than later. The crowd stayed with him through every swing. ![File photo of Taylor Fritz at the Delray Beach Open.](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794020526607-rqqq6v-tennis-inside1-2026-11-07-morning.jpg) ## How Fritz let it slip Fritz broke for 4-3 in the second set and saved a break point to move 5-3 ahead. With Alcaraz serving at 3-5, the American earned a first match point with a crosscourt forehand return winner off a second serve. Alcaraz saved it by charging the net, then held with a short backhand slice at the end of a sprint that brought the crowd to its feet. Serving for the match at 5-4, Fritz earned a second match point after a breathtaking exchange of reflex volleys and passing shots. Alcaraz saved that one too, with a passing-shot winner after a tentative approach from Fritz, then broke back by pushing the American into errors. He won the set 7-5, his fourth game in a row, and the match had turned. Alcaraz had shown this nerve in Paris before, saving three championship points against Jannik Sinner in the 2025 French Open final, and he said afterwards that Friday reminded him of that final. Fritz, who had beaten Arthur Fils on Thursday to stay alive in the Turin race, had done almost everything right until the closing stages of the second set. ## The Turin equation The stakes beyond Paris were simple and brutal. Fritz needed to reach the semi-finals to pass Rafael Jódar in the race to Turin, and a win over Alcaraz would have taken the last place at the season-ending event. Instead, the defeat ended the American's hopes of returning to the Nitto ATP Finals, and Jódar, beaten by Casper Ruud in the second round on Tuesday, will make his debut in Turin. Jódar, 20, takes the eighth and final place with 3,234 points, and he becomes the first man to reach the Nitto ATP Finals in the year of his tour-level debut. No player had ever qualified for the season finale after starting the year ranked as low as Jódar, who was No. 168 in January. The eight qualifiers are now confirmed: Alexander Zverev, Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Frances Tiafoe and Jódar. The finals run from 15 to 22 November at the Inalpi Arena in Turin. Fritz ends the race in 11th place on 3,050 points, while Tommy Paul, beaten 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 by Ben Shelton earlier on Friday, ends it in 13th. ## Ruud waits on Saturday Alcaraz will face Casper Ruud in the semi-finals on Saturday, after the Norwegian beat Portuguese lucky loser Nuno Borges 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the final quarter-final of a late night in Paris. Ruud ended the record run of Borges, the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in tournament history, a week after losing to the Portuguese in Basel. Ruud converted his only break point of the match, took the first-set tie-break 7-5 on his third set point, and served out the second set to love at 5-4. ![File photo of Casper Ruud at the ATP 500 in Basel in 2025.](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794020541187-55xxyp-tennis-inside2-2026-11-07-morning.jpg) It is his 11th Masters 1000 semi-final, and the head-to-head gives Alcaraz a clear edge: the Spaniard leads Ruud 6-1, with the Norwegian's only win coming 6-1, 7-5 in the round robin of the 2024 ATP Finals. Their latest meeting went to Alcaraz 6-1, 7-6 (2) at Indian Wells in March. The other semi-final pairs Ben Shelton with Luca Van Assche, after Shelton beat Tommy Paul and Van Assche beat Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 to reach his first Masters 1000 semi-final. The final is scheduled for Sunday 8 November. ## What this changes For Alcaraz, the win removes the one Masters 1000 semi-final that had eluded him in Paris and keeps his title ambitions alive. He broke early in the third set, saved a break point before moving 5-2 ahead, and served out the match at 5-3, winning four points in a row after an opening double fault. The 23-year-old Spaniard has already qualified for Turin, an event he is yet to win in three previous tries. For Fritz, the season ends without the finale he chased, and the two match points will define his Paris week more than the first-set tie-break he won so well. For Jódar, the night was a gift delivered by a rival: a place among the eight best of the season. Paris, so often a difficult city for Alcaraz, finally gave him a night to remember. Mentions: Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, Nuno Borges, Rafael Jódar, Rolex Paris Masters, Plenitude Arena, Nitto ATP Finals, Turin, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Luca Van Assche, Rinky Hijikata, Jannik Sinner, Arthur Fils ## Sources - [tennismajors.com](https://www.tennismajors.com/atp/rolex-paris-masters-1000-atp/alcaraz-saves-two-match-points-to-beat-fritz-and-reach-his-first-paris-semi-final-866105.html) - [skysports.com](https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/13608938/paris-masters-taylor-fritz-squanders-match-points-against-carlos-alcaraz-as-defeat-ends-hopes-of-reaching-atp-finals) - [tennismajors.com](https://www.tennismajors.com/atp/rolex-paris-masters-1000-atp/race-to-turin-jodar-completes-the-turin-line-up-as-fritz-falls-to-alcaraz-866130.html) - [qa.philstar.com](https://qa.philstar.com/sports/2026/11/07/2568518/alcaraz-saves-match-points-reach-paris-masters-semis)