Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated in the second roudn match at the Paris-Bercy ATP Masters 1000! The Spaniard hadn’t lost in a first match of an ATP Masters 1000 event since Montreal 2022. Roman Safiullin stopped this streak at the Paris Rolex Masters. The Russian beat Alcaraz with an unexpected 6-3, 6-4. The Spaniard is not 100% and the court showed that he will need to work to improve his physical condition in view of the upcoming ATP Finals. Safiullin broke himself in the third game by hitting two double faults and miscalibrating his backhand. Alcaraz did not take advantage of it and suffered the immediate counter break without being able to resist the enemy passer. The key moment is to be found in the eighth game. Alcaraz continued to miss and allowed Safiullin to take the lead by sending his backhand meters beyond the baseline. The second set followed the same and identical trend as the first. Alcaraz opened the ball with an extraordinary winning response at 2-1 and unraveled everything by conceding another lethal passer. The Russian sensed the favorable moment, pushed with all his determination and surprised Alcaraz again in response in the seventh game. The Spaniard went off the rails with his forehand. The 26-year-old from Podolsk did not tremble and achieved the most prestigious result of his career. Below you can watch the Day 2 highlights, shared by Tennis TV YouTube account:
The other matches in Paris-Bercy
Felix Auger-Aliassime is trying to rediscover his best tennis in this final part of the season and, in Paris-Bercy, he achieved his sixth consecutive success after winning his fifth career title in Basel last Sunday. The Canadian defeated Jan-Lennard Struff with a score of 7-6(3), 6-4 and reached Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Both offered service opportunities, one Struff and three Auger-Aliassime, before the tie-break. The 23-year-old from Montreal collected the first six points and, effectively, won the set. A single solo was enough for the Canadian to lead the decisive assault: the break came in the third game due to a bad double fault by the German. Gael Monfils lost a crazy match against Francisco Cerundolo. Leading by one set, the Frenchman misplayed the match point conceded by the Argentine at 5-4 and played a terrible tie-break. One step away from victory in the third set, Monfils surrendered serve to zero at 4-3. The Frenchman saved himself in the tenth game, canceling two match points, but not in the twelfth by hurting himself with his forehand. Everything is easy for Italy’s next rival in the Davis Cup quarter-finals. Tallon Griekspoor defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2 6-2 and awaits one between Novak Djokovic and Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the round of 16. The Serbian clearly won his doubles match with compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic. The two Belgrade players prevailed with a score of 6-4, 6-2 against Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.