Cameron Norrie earned the biggest win of his career as he stunned Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Masters. The Brit came from a set down to beat the world No.1 4-6 6-3 6-4 in the second round as Alcaraz made too many mistakes and complained to his coach, as Sky Sports commentator Naomi Broady said: “They’re literally just arguing.”
The Spanish superstar was playing his first ATP Tour event since winning the Japan Open a month ago. He skipped the Shanghai Masters with an ankle injury. Alcaraz received a bye directly into the second round in Paris, but he fell at the first hurdle to Norrie.
Alcaraz had reached at least the finals of the last nine tournaments he played, going back to the Monte-Carlo Masters in April. But the world No. 1 has typically struggled on the indoor courts in Paris, with his best showing coming in 2022 when he reached the semi-finals.
The Spaniard had hoped that a change in venue would help him this year, with the Paris Masters moving from the Accor Arena in Bercy to the La Defense Arena. Ahead of the tournament, Alcaraz even admitted that he liked the slower courts here – but it wasn’t to be.
Alcaraz was always on the back foot in the decider, saving multiple break points early on. But Norrie finally sealed a crucial break with a stunning backhand pass, and then saved two break-back points to move ahead.
The Brit got the job done on his second break point as Alcaraz sent a return of serve long. Norrie had previously beaten Alcaraz twice, but never when he was the world No. 1. He becomes the first Brit to beat a world No. 1 since Dan Evans at the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters.
The world No.31 said: “It’s massive. So big for me. I’ve been coming back with my injury last year. I lost first round qualies here last year, so just tried to enjoy my tennis the second half of the year and I was able to do that and to get a win like this.
“Biggest win of my career, my first win over a world No.1 and especially over probably the most confident player in the world right now, him and [Jannik] Sinner combined.
“But I was just so pleased with the way I did it, having a lot of chances and having to keep pushing and keep going for more and I was able to stay tough and get the win, so I’m really pleased.”
Norrie never felt that he was truly out of the match – and he was encouraged by Alcaraz’s complaints at the end of the second set. “Honestly, I played a really, really good first set. I felt it was quite close, he just took his chance and I didn’t. I just wanted to keep pushing,” he explained.
“Honestly, it was such a physical match, I’ve been doing some workouts with my fitness trainer, Vasek, and I was telling my team, ‘This is even tougher than my conditioning sessions with Vasek’, and he makes them tough sessions!
“I think I felt quite comfortable with that and I just wanted to keep pushing him. I saw him a little bit talking to his team a lot so that gave me some confidence.
“That 4-3 game [in the third set] was crucial, I had saved a couple of break points there. And then when I went to serve for the match, I actually went for a walk with my coach this morning and we talked through serving for a match and what I need to tell myself, because I was so, so tight serving for the match against [Sebastian] Baez yesterday, I was 0-40 on my serve and managed to get it, but it was for no real reason.
“I just told myself, ‘I deserve to be in this moment, I want to be here’, and I felt quite relaxed with that, so it was a nice walk this morning, a very important walk with Kevin!”