Carlos Alcaraz bested Casper Ruud in the semifinal of the Paris Masters to advance to the final of the tournament on Saturday. The Spaniard registered a 6-4, 6-4 semi-final triumph against the Norwegian to keep up his rich vein of form.
With this win against Ruud, Alcaraz now leads him 7-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Earlier in the quarterfinal, Alcaraz had saved two match points against Taylor Fritz, but he came up with a commanding performance against Ruud.
“I’m really happy and proud of myself,” Alcaraz said. “This tournament has always been really tough for me. I’ve struggled every time I come here. The farthest I have gone [before] was the quarter-finals… I’ve come into this part of the season much fresher, hungry, ambitious, excited about coming to the tournaments and stepping on the court, playing matches and competing. I’m just really happy that I made the final.”
After this triumph, Alcaraz has reached the final at a seventh different ATP Masters 1000 event.
Alcaraz will face Ben Shelton in the summit clash. The duo had faced each other in the quarterfinal of the US Open, which Shelton won in a five-set thriller.
“Tomorrow is going to be a big day,” Alcaraz said. “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.
“Last time was a pretty tough match. I’m going to try to do different things at little moments, important moments, that I probably didn’t do well last time. I’m pretty sure it is going to be a great match to watch, for me to play and of course to learn.”
Alcaraz and Shelton will take on each other on Sunday.
