The Spaniard saved two match points and knocked the American out of the tournament. Rafael Jódar stands to benefit from this.
With a spirited performance, Carlos Alcaraz has fought his way into the semi-finals of the ATP Masters in Paris for the first time. In a top-class match against the American Taylor Fritz, which ended 6–7 (10–12), 7–5, 6–3, the Spanish world number three showed great resilience and saved two of his opponent’s match points. Alcaraz will now face either Nuno Borges (Portugal) or Casper Ruud (Norway), who defeated Jan-Lennard Struff.
Fritz has therefore missed out on qualifying for the ATP Finals. Instead, the final place in the tournament featuring the year’s top eight players was secured by the young Spanish star Rafael Jódar. Alcaraz will also be competing in Turin; he won the title in Vienna last week and has been in fine form.
The second semi-final will see Ben Shelton (USA/No. 3) take on Luca Van Assche (France). World No. 1 Alexander Zverev, having received a bye in the first round, was knocked out in the second round, whilst Struff was eliminated in the round of 16.