“He’s playing great,” he added of Shelton. “He was really solid from the baseline and serving. I think he does a lot of damage every game.”
Both men reached Saturday’s final in very different ways. Alcaraz beat Rudy without facing a break point, 3-3 in the first set and 4-4 in the second. Shelton dropped the first set to Luca Van Assche and trailed 3-1 in the decider, but broke the straight back and again from 3-3 down to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. They are each playing in their sixth final of the season, tied with Yannick Sinner for the most on tour in 2026.
Alcaraz has a 3-1 lead against them. He won in Toronto in 2023, the Laver Cup in 2024 and the last 16 at Roland Garros in 2025, 7-6 (8), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Shelton won the most recent match, in New York.
Alcaraz.
Alcaraz has not forgotten New York. “The last time I played him, at the US Open, in the heat, it was pretty tough physically, pretty tough mentally,” he said on court. “I’m ready. I’ll try to do a little better than I did in that game. I have watched his matches, his level is quite high now, he has a lot of confidence. His serve is going to be really hard to come back, but I’ll try whatever it takes. I’m sure it will be fun to watch and I’ll enjoy every second of it.”
In Spanish, he went backwards for that loss. “She beat me by playing great tennis and it came down to the little details,” Alcaraz said. “We’re going to try to do a better job of those little details in the big moments so that opportunities don’t slip away. He’s there because he deserves it.”
“I will try to improve the little things I didn’t do well in the last game and try to play my best,” he said. “Otherwise, I think he’ll beat me. He is one of the best talents we have in tennis right now. So I will try to be focused, to be ready.”
Whatever the outcome, he knows how he wants to approach it. “Play aggressive, enjoy,” he said in Spanish. “And if I lose, feel that I did what I had to do and that I enjoyed it.”
Two of the most consistent finales of the season
Alcaraz arrived in Paris as the Viennese champion, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-1, 6-4 in the final, his fourth title of the season. He saved two match points in the quarterfinals in Paris Taylor Fritz won 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-3. This is his 11th Masters 1000 final, and Paris is the seventh different Masters 1000 where he has reached one. He is the fourth Spanish finalist in the history of the tournament, after Sergio Casal in 1986, Rafael Nadal in 2007 and David Ferrer in 2012 and 2013.
This season, Shelton won titles in Dallas, Munich, Stuttgart and the Montreal Masters 1000 and lost US Open Finals Alexander Zverev. His record in the Finals is 7-3. He is the first American to reach the final in Paris since Jack Sock in 2017, and the first American to reach a Masters 1000 final in a season since Andy Roddick in 2010. A win would give him a third Masters 1000 title, after Toronto in 2025 and Montreal this year.
Both have already qualified ATP Finals in TurinAlcaraz for the fifth consecutive year. Sunday will determine which of them goes there with the Masters 1000 trophy and whether New York was a turning point in their rivalry or an exception.
Alcaraz’s path to the finals
Second stage: d. Alex Michelsen 7-6 (4), 6-3
Third stage: d. Without Matteo Berettini
Quarter finals: d. Taylor Fritz (11) 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-3
Semi-final: d. Casper Rudd 6-4, 6-4
Shelton’s Path to the Finals
Second stage: d. Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4
Third stage: d. Arthur Rinderknech 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
Quarter finals: d. Tommy Paul (12) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Semi-final: d. Luca Van Assche 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
