Carlos Alcaraz won the Paris Masters for the first time after beating Ben Shelton 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in the final.
The victory gave the seven-time Grand Slam champion a measure of revenge against the American, who ended his US Open title defence earlier this season. Alcaraz, 23, secured the ninth Masters 1000 title of his career in a contest lasting just under two hours.
“Coming here every year, not finding my best tennis but we never gave up,” Alcaraz said after receiving the trophy from former Paris Masters winner Boris Becker.
“We had really painful losses here and we always said try again,” the Spaniard added with a smile.
Alcaraz arrived in Paris after winning the 500-level title in Vienna and has now taken victory in his last nine matches. He has won five tour-level titles this year, one fewer than the injured Jannik Sinner.
The world number three will next seek his first title at the ATP Finals, which take place in Turin from November 15 to 22.
Alcaraz remains unbeaten in title matches in the city after winning two French Opens and now the Paris Masters. He had to save match points against Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals, echoing his French Open final victory over Sinner last year.
For world number four Shelton, the result was his first defeat in a Masters final. He had won his two previous appearances in showpiece matches at that level, both at the Canadian Open in the last two editions.
