Carlos Alcaraz makes comment about the Paris crowd after epic comeback win vs Taylor Fritz

Carlos Alcaraz has battled into the semifinals of the Paris Masters after an epic comeback win over Taylor Fritz.

Alcaraz lost the first set to Fritz, but the Spanish superstar recovered in dramatic fashion to beat his American rival 6-7(10-12), 7-5, 6-3. The two high-profile stars battled it out in the French capital for two hours and 43 minutes before a winner finally emerged. Fritz had two match points in his Paris Masters quarterfinal with Alcaraz, but failed to convert them as his ATP rival fought into the semifinals of the tournament for the very first time.

He will now take on the winner of the meeting between Casper Ruud and lucky loser Nuno Borges. Ahead of that match, however, the Spaniard spoke about his latest victory and the role that the Parisian crowd played throughout the evening.

Carlos Alcaraz delighted to entertain Paris Masters crowd

Asked on court after the win how he managed to change the energy in the match and indeed in the arena, Alcaraz said: “Well I tried not to let myself down in those difficult moments that I had in the second set. I tried to stay strong mentally and tried to solve those problems, those break points, those match points down.

“I would say 5-3 serving, I had one or two match points, I don’t remember exactly right now, but I think that game we played incredible tennis. Both of us. Great points. I think that fuelled the people to stand up, to bring the energy into the match.

“I used the people, I used the energy. I would say I gave them what they really wanted to watch today, and I’m just really happy that I could play for one hour and a half more for them, to entertain them a little bit.

“So it was incredible. The feeling that I got today is I would say unmatched. And yeah just happy to give myself another chance to step on the court tomorrow and save every chance I got to win the match and kept fighting.”

Tim Henman honoured to watch epic Carlos Alcaraz vs Taylor Fritz match

It was indeed a stunning fightback from Alcaraz, who produced world-class shot after world-class shot to grind out the victory. But at the same time Fritz will be left with a feeling of real disappointment, having blown a huge chance at a big upset in Paris.

Former player Tim Henman was quick to highlight the impressive efforts of the American afterwards, but they were ultimately not enough to secure a semifinal spot at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.

Henman said of the third set on Sky Sports: “Yeah it’s amazing. It’s about playing tennis… your best tennis at the right times. And Fritz did that for so much of the match.

“You really felt that the way he would turn things around end of the first set through to the second set when he had his opportunities. But that’s when Alcaraz just got better and better. And almost inevitably Fritz’s level had to drop off a little bit. He kept fighting in the third set. He had break point to get back at 4-2 on Alcaraz’s serve.

“But it really was just a masterclass of shot-making, incredible winners, athletic ability, the drama, the atmosphere, the crowd also played their part. So yeah, real pleasure, a real sort of honour to be courtside and experience it all so close.”

And his fellow former player Ryan Harrison said of the high-quality encounter: “Yeah, I mean look, there’s only a couple of people in the world that could energise a crowd like this. Maybe just Carlos. He could be in a room of one of one.

“Whenever you see a crowd getting behind him, you’d swear he was playing in Spain right now. But even this French crowd is fully behind him. He knows when to pump them up.

“He was still down a break and Fritz was about to serve for the match. He hits that magical little delicate touch sliding angle that he hit. It was more of a drop shot than an angle to win that game that held the game to then force Fritz to serve for the match. And he’s just standing there getting the crowd going.

“He understands how much they can help him apply pressure, and also how much this crowd we can hear right now behind us just really help Carlos bring out his best stuff.”

Notably, the result has also had a major impact on events away from the Paris Masters, with Fritz now missing out on a place at the ATP Finals. His loss to Alcaraz means that Rafael Jodar has claimed the eighth and final spot for the year-end tournament in Turin later this month.