Ferrero factor adds spice as Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton clash for the Paris title
Match News and Form
Ben Shelton has had many uncharacteristically poor weeks this year, but has consistently made amends with big results, and Paris Masters is no different. He arrived on the back of a poor post-US Open stretch, losing both his Davis Cup matches and winning just one match across the Shanghai Masters and Basel, where he fell to underdogs Arthur Gea and Jerome Kym respectively. He rediscovered his form in Paris, and his semi-final win followed a familiar pattern. Having previously won all five of his semi-finals this year, coming from a set down on three of those occasions, he produced another comeback here, dropping the first set to Luca Van Assche and trailing by a break in the decider before bouncing back on both occasions to reach the final.
Carlos Alcaraz reached the final in three of the five tournaments he completed before picking up an injury earlier this year, and he has quickly found that same stride since returning from a near five-month layoff at the US Open a couple of months ago. This is his fifth tournament since coming back, and it marks his third run to the final. He won the title in Tokyo and added another in Vienna last week, a special one, as he had never won a title during the European indoor swing before. He is now one win away from claiming his maiden Paris Masters title.
Head-to-head: Carlos Alcaraz leads 3-1
He won the first three meetings, including one on indoor hard courts at the 2024 Laver Cup, before Shelton pulled one back at the US Open recently, ending Alcaraz’s title defense in New York.
Stats and facts
Ben Shelton is 4-1 in title-deciding matches this year and 4-0 at the ATP level.
Shelton holds a perfect 2-0 record in Masters-level finals in his career.
Shelton has 11 wins from a set down on the ATP level this year, the most of any player, including three this week in Paris.
Alcaraz is also 4-1 in finals this year, the sole loss coming to Jannik Sinner at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Alcaraz has won 10 of his last 13 title-deciding matches, and all three losses came against Sinner.
He is 15-3 in finals at high-profile tournaments (Masters and Grand Slams) in his career. Notably, all three losses came against either Sinner or Novak Djokovic.
Betting analysis
Ben Shelton was not seen as a serious threat to the likes of Carlos Alcaraz until very recently, but his US Open upset has spiced up the rivalry, and it is likely to get a lot more interesting soon. Shelton is set to work with Juan Carlos Ferrero as his coach from next season. Ferrero had a highly successful stint with Alcaraz, and the pair did not appear to part on good terms, which only adds more stakes to an already high-stakes clash with a Masters title on the line.
Alcaraz has come a long way since the US Open disappointment. He has gotten plenty of match time under his belt, is in much-improved physical condition, and is currently on an eight-match winning streak. He has also generally been an extremely difficult player to beat in big finals, so he appears to be in a good position to exact revenge against Shelton.
