Alcaraz ends Fritz's Turin hopes in Paris as Jodar and Tiafoe complete the ATP Finals field

Carlos Alcaraz came from a set down to beat Taylor Fritz 6-7(10) 7-5 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday, 6 November, ending the American's bid for the last place at the ATP Finals and handing it to Rafael Jodar. Earlier, Ben Shelton beat Tommy Paul 6-4 4-6 6-3, a result that confirmed Frances Tiafoe for Turin, while Luca Van Assche edged qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4 6-7(4) 7-5.

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Alcaraz survives the night session

The equation was simple, as the ATP had set it out before the match: a win for Fritz would lift him from 11th to above Jodar and Alex de Minaur in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, while a win for the second seed would send Jodar to the season finale. Fritz had 3,050 points before the match, against 3,234 for Jodar and 3,170 for de Minaur, neither of whom was still playing in Paris.

Fritz, the 11th seed, took a long opening tie-break 12-10, according to the official scoreboards of Tennis Majors and Tennis.com. Alcaraz levelled by taking the second set 7-5, then pulled away in the decider to close the match after two hours and 44 minutes. The ATP's Hot Shot clips of the evening showed the Spaniard producing a passing shot to break the American's serve and a point the tour called one of the best of the year to stay alive in the contest.

The win takes the Vienna champion into his first semi-final in Paris. He will face the winner of the last quarter-final between Casper Ruud and lucky loser Nuno Borges, the last match on Friday's programme, which had not finished at the time of writing.

Shelton ends an American duel

Shelton, the third seed, needed an hour and 46 minutes to get past the 12th seed on Court Central. Flashscore reported that Paul cracked while serving at 4-5 in the first set, with two double faults handing over set points, before he broke back immediately at the start of the second set and levelled the match. Shelton broke again in the fourth game of the decider and served it out. The ATP counted 19 aces for the left-hander, who converted two of his four break points.

"I thought the first set was definitely a serving contest," Shelton told the ATP. He is the first American in the Paris semi-finals since Jack Sock and John Isner in 2017, Flashscore and the ATP both noted. According to Tennis Majors, it is his third Masters 1000 semi-final, after the two that led to his titles in Toronto in 2025 and Montreal in 2026, and he leads Paul 3-2 in their head-to-head.

Van Assche holds his nerve against Hijikata

The day's longest match lasted two hours and 44 minutes. Van Assche broke at 4-4 to take the first set, but Hijikata, who had beaten Novak Djokovic in the second round, came back from 0-3 down in the second set and won the tie-break 7-4. The Australian then led 2-0 in the third, yet it was his serve that cracked at the end: serving at 5-6, he double-faulted to give Van Assche three match points and netted a backhand volley on the first, as Tennis Majors described it.

"I'm happy to have turned the situation around," the Frenchman told Tennis Majors. It is the Estoril champion's first semi-final above ATP 250 level, the ATP said, and he is the second-youngest French semi-finalist in the tournament's history behind Richard Gasquet. He meets Shelton on Saturday.

The Turin field is complete

Paul needed to reach the final to overtake Jodar, so his defeat ended his own hopes and confirmed Tiafoe, who had already left Paris after losing to Quentin Halys, as the seventh qualifier. The 28-year-old won the Halle title and reached the finals in Cincinnati and Acapulco this season. "Frances has had an outstanding year," Shelton told the ATP, calling his friend's debut "such a cool milestone".

Alcaraz's win then completed the field for the ATP Finals, which run in Turin from 15 to 22 November: Alexander Zverev, Alcaraz, Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Tiafoe and Jodar. The ATP said the 2026 edition has four first-time qualifiers, Cobolli, Fils, Tiafoe and Jodar, and that Jodar was a University of Virginia student ranked No. 166 a year ago. The draw for the two groups is made on 12 November.

What it means

Fritz, who needed the win to climb into the top eight of the race, misses the finale, while Jodar goes to Turin without hitting a ball on Friday. In Paris, neither Shelton nor Van Assche had reached a semi-final here before, so one of them will play a first final at the event. Alcaraz, the highest seed left, is now two wins from a Paris title he has never won.