Carlos Alcaraz Stunned In 1st Round Of Paris Masters As Cameron Norrie Advances

Last Updated:October 29, 2025, 07:43 IST

Cameron Norrie's impressive shot-making drew repeated gasps from the crowd, and even a stranded Carlos Alcaraz admired his performance on two occasions.

Carlos Alcaraz says he's disappointed by his performance. (AP Photo)

World number one Carlos Alcaraz admitted he had “no feeling at all" for the ball following his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to 31st-ranked Briton Cameron Norrie in his opening match at the Paris Masters on Tuesday. The six-time Grand Slam champion has now failed to win the Paris Masters in five attempts and risks losing his top ranking if rival Jannik Sinner wins the tournament.

After a three-week hiatus due to an ankle injury that made him miss the Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz arrived in Paris feeling good. “I had a lot of practices here, which I was feeling great, feeling amazing, moving on the court, hitting the ball," the 22-year-old explained.

“However, even in the first set that I won, I felt like I could have done much more. I tried to improve in the second set, but it was the opposite. I felt even worse."

In a pattern similar to his Roland Garros victory earlier in the season, Alcaraz experienced a significant mid-match slump. This time, however, he was unable to recover in the French capital.

“I didn’t feel well today. A lot of mistakes… I had no feeling at all," he summarised. “I’m really disappointed with my level today, but it is what it is."

Nonetheless, Alcaraz commended his opponent for taking advantage of his errors. “I have to give credit to Cam because he didn’t let me stay or come back into the match," he said. “Norrie played really great tennis."

Norrie rose to the occasion on the 17,500-capacity centre court at the La Defense Arena. “Such a special win to beat probably the most confident player in the world right now," former world number eight Norrie remarked. “I told myself before the match, even if I get into a winning scenario, I’m not going to be afraid to win. I stayed true to that."

Norrie’s impressive shot-making drew repeated gasps from the crowd, and even a stranded Alcaraz admired his performance on two occasions during the opening exchanges, following a superb passing shot at full stretch and a perfectly-placed lob executed while sprinting towards his own baseline.

As Alcaraz’s first serve and backhand faltered, Norrie maintained his composure to break at 3-3 in the decider and then bring up two match points. The first saw a Norrie backhand bobble twice on the net-cord before agonisingly falling on the wrong side of the court for the Briton.

Norrie recalled setting aside any thoughts of Alcaraz pulling off an escape act similar to the French Open final against Sinner in June when he saved championship points to claim a miraculous victory.

“I remember when I played him in Rio (in 2023), and I was 40-30 serving for the match. I told myself to go T again, and I managed to hit the spot, and he missed the return. It was a nice moment."

US fourth seed Taylor Fritz advanced to the third round with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 win over Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic.

Earlier, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, the 2020 Paris Masters champion, secured a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 win over Spaniard Jaume Munar. The eleventh seed will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.

Nineteen-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca, fresh off winning the biggest title of his career in Basel last weekend, dug deep to beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in three sets.

Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime earned a comeback 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Argentinian Francisco Comesana, while US fifth seed Ben Shelton beat Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in straight sets.

Surprise Shanghai Masters winner Valentin Vacherot continued his remarkable form in the opening match of the day. The Monegasque wildcard defeated Czech 14th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-1, 6-3, and will next meet his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in a repeat of the Shanghai final earlier in October. The winner of this family duel will face Norrie in the third round.

Italian world number two Sinner will begin his campaign on Wednesday against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs.

With AFP Inputs

Feroz Khan

Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital...Read More

Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital...

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News sports Carlos Alcaraz Stunned In 1st Round Of Paris Masters As Cameron Norrie Advances

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