Alcaraz Saves Two Match Points to Beat Fritz, Reaches First Paris Semi-Final

Carlos Alcaraz saved two match points to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7 (10-12), 7-5, 6-3 and reach his first Rolex Paris Masters semi-final in a thrilling quarter-final on Friday night, November 6, 2026. The second seed was one point from defeat twice in the second set before storming back to win four games in a row, and the result also confirmed Spain’s Rafael Jódar as the eighth and final qualifier for the ATP Finals in Turin.

By Imran Javed | November 7, 2026 | Sports

Two match points, one great escape

For nearly two sets, this looked like Taylor Fritz’s night. The American’s flat, fast hitting was made for the quick indoor court at the Plenitude Arena, and he had already shown his form a day earlier by ending French hopes against Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, by contrast, kept drifting in and out of the match — brilliant in flashes, loose in others — and twice let a lead slip.

But great players find a way when the scoreboard says they should not. Trailing 5-3 in the second set and staring at elimination, Alcaraz produced the kind of tennis that explains why Paris was on its feet by the end. He saved two match points, broke Fritz twice, and won four games in a row to steal the set 7-5. From there, he never looked back.

“Today’s match reminds me a little bit of the French Open final last year,” Alcaraz said on court afterwards, referring to 2025, when he saved three championship points against Jannik Sinner. It was a fair comparison. Both nights had the same shape: a slow start, a crowd slowly finding its voice, and then a champion refusing to lose.

A first set that slipped away

Alcaraz actually struck first. He broke Fritz early for 3-2 and looked ready to take control of the opening set. But serving for it at 5-4, his game fell apart — he lost his serve to love, and Fritz reeled off 12 points out of 13 at the end of the set. The Spaniard steadied himself to force a tie-break, but that turned chaotic too. Both men rushed shots and made poor decisions. Alcaraz had three set points, yet Fritz saved all three and converted his own third to take the breaker 12-10 after 22 points.

The first set alone had lasted about an hour, and Fritz carried that momentum into the second. He avoided the dip that so often follows a hard-won set and kept Alcaraz under real pressure. The Spaniard survived a demanding service game early on, saving break points, but Fritz eventually broke at 3-3 and consolidated to move within reach of the biggest win of his Paris campaign. At 5-3, the American was one game from the semi-finals — and from a place at the ATP Finals.

The comeback: match point down, crowd on its feet

Serving at 3-5, Alcaraz faced his first match point. Fritz earned it 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 whole arena to its feet. The crowd, which had been warming up all evening, was now fully behind him.

Serving for the match at 5-4, Fritz earned a second match point after a breathtaking exchange of reflex volleys and passing shots at the net. Again Alcaraz answered — this time with a passing-shot winner after a tentative approach from the American — and then broke back by pushing Fritz into errors. He won the set 7-5, his fourth game in a row, and the roar that greeted it told you everything about where the momentum had gone.

“With all the support from the crowd, it was possible,” Alcaraz said. “That’s for me the first thing and the main reason I came back in the match today. I was really nervous facing 5-4 on his serve. I didn’t want to lose, but the crowd support, the energy, made me feel comfortable. It’s war, it’s still suffering, it’s still a fight. I’m really proud and grateful for what I felt today.”

The decider: Alcaraz takes control

The third set was a different match. Alcaraz played freely, found winners from all over the court, and took advantage as Fritz’s first-serve percentage dropped — the American managed only 52 percent of first serves in the decider. The Spaniard broke early and had chances to lead 5-1, but Fritz held for 4-2. Alcaraz then saved a break point in the next game before moving 5-2 ahead.

Serving for the match at 5-3, he opened with a double fault, then won four points in a row — the last two with an ace and a serve followed by a forehand — to close it out on his first match point with one of his signature forehands, out of reach of his valiant opponent. He savoured the moment, pointing at the Paris crowd to share the win with them, then wrote on the camera lens: “Semis, you feel very good Pariiiis.”

Alcaraz was generous in victory, too. “I think he plays unbelievably well. It’s really tough facing Taylor on this surface, which is pretty fast. He plays really flat, he plays really comfortable, he can be aggressive,” he said. “Every time, I have to run, I have to fight, and still be strong mentally to overcome all the problems that happen in the match.”

What the win means for Turin

The result mattered far beyond Paris. Fritz had entered the quarter-finals knowing that a place in the last four would secure his qualification for the ATP Finals. His defeat ends his hopes of returning to the season-ending tournament, and instead sends his fellow Spaniard Rafael Jódar to Turin.

Jódar, 20, has been the breakthrough story of the 2026 season. He began the year ranked outside the world’s top 160, took the college route at the University of Virginia, turned professional full-time on New Year’s Eve, won his first ATP title in Marrakech in April, and reached his first Masters 1000 final in Shanghai. He held the eighth and final qualifying spot with 3,234 race points — and with Fritz unable to pass him, that place is now his. Jódar will be one of two debutants at the event, which runs from November 15 to 22 at the Inalpi Arena in Turin and features the season’s top eight men’s singles players. It is the same tournament our ATP Finals 2026 Turin preview flagged Jódar as holding the eighth spot for — and this result confirms it.

The eight qualifiers are now confirmed: Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe — who got in when Shelton beat Tommy Paul earlier on Friday — and Jódar. Jannik Sinner, second in the race, is out for the season through injury, which is what opened the door for the final spot in the first place.

Who Alcaraz faces next

Alcaraz will face on Saturday the winner of the last quarter-final between Casper Ruud and Nuno Borges, whose match started after 11 p.m. on Friday. Borges, a lucky loser, has already had a remarkable week in Paris, while Ruud beat Jódar earlier in the tournament. Either way, Alcaraz will be the favourite — but after Friday night, nobody in Paris will be writing him off or writing him in too early.

The other semi-final is already set: Ben Shelton faces home player Luca Van Assche. Shelton beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 earlier on Friday, while Van Assche beat qualifier Rinki Hijikata 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5. The final takes place on Sunday.

Paris: the one box left to tick

For Alcaraz, the win carries extra meaning because Paris has been one of his least successful stops. Before this week he had never gone beyond the quarter-finals of the event, and it remains one of the few Masters titles missing from his collection — a strange gap for a 23-year-old who already owns a career Grand Slam.

His last quarter-final here, in 2022, ended badly. He retired against Holger Rune with an abdominal injury, and that problem forced him to miss the ATP Finals that year. Reaching the last four this time, after saving two match points, marks a clear step forward. He had promised at the start of the week that one day he would do great things in Paris, “sooner than later” — and the 2026 edition is already looking like the one.

It was a night that had everything: a 22-point tie-break, two match points saved, and a result that reshaped the season-ending race. The weekend in Paris now promises even more — just as the football world is still talking about Manchester City’s 3-0 win at Liverpool and Pakistan fans celebrate Pakistan sealing the T20I series with an 82-run win over Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi.