The Paris Open was an important tournament for Carlos Alcaraz. After his semifinal exit from the US Open, the Spaniard had to perform well in the year-end harcourt tournaments in order to regain his world no.1 ranking from Novak Djokovic.
However, things have not gone as per plan for the 20-year-old. After a semifinal exit at the hands of Jannik Sinner at the China Open, Alcaraz endured further trouble when Grigor Dimitrov defeated him at the Shanghai Open. Now, the 2021 US Open champion has a much bigger shock in store for him at the Paris Masters.
Roman Safiullin beats Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz faced world no. 45 Roman Saifullin in the second round of the Paris Masters. The Russian has had a good run post-US Open, with a final appearance at the Chengdu Open and extended runs in other tournaments. Earlier, he had reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, where he lost to Jannik Sinner.
In what was a shock result that many weren’t betting on, Alcaraz slumped to a 3-6, 4-6 loss to Saifullin in their first ever meeting on the ATP tour.
Alcaraz hit 27 unforced errors, which didn’t help his cause, and Roman converted four of eight break points—two in each set—and saved two of the four break points Alcaraz managed to engineer as he recorded his biggest victory to date.
An ecstatic Roman Saifullin acknowledged the weight of his victory while saying that beating even an underperforming Alcaraz was not an easy feat.
“Everything against these guys [is important]. Tactical, physical, the mental part. [It’s key] to stay focused from the beginning to the end. Who can make it longer is going to be the winner,” Roman said in his on-court interview.
Carlos Alcaraz on defeat to Roman Safiullin
A sullen Carlos Alcaraz was hounded with questions about his shock loss by the media at his post-match press conference, and the Spaniard took the loss in stride by appreciating his opponent’s game and technique.
“I dont know. Probably, because the season is so long it has affected my game. Players are tired at the end of the season. Talking about myself, I don’t know, I’ll try to figure it out and try to be better in the next years,” he said.
Alcaraz virtually squandered his opportunity to end the year as world no. 1, despite Djokovic not gaining any points from his participation in Paris.
Alcaraz took to Twitter to share his appreciation and congratulatory messages with Roman Safiullin and stated that the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin were his next stop.
Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and many more of the top-8 players will take part in the ATP Finals in November.
What are your opinions on Carlos Alcaraz’s shock loss at the Paris Masters? Will the Spaniard bounce back in Turin? Let us know in the comments section below.
