Rolex Paris Masters 2025: Cam Norrie stuns world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz
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British No.2 Cam Norrie stunned world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters to claim the biggest win of his career so far.
Norrie came back from a set down to beat the six-time Grand Slam champion 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to seal his first-ever win against a world No.1.
He’s the first Brit to defeat the No.1 ranked player in the world since Dan Evans knocked Novak Djokovic out of the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2021.
It’s the third time Norrie has beaten Alcaraz in their previous eight meetings and it ends the Spaniard’s 17-match winning streak at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.
“I’m not really sure what to say right now," Norrie commented. "I’ve been working really hard this year so it’s nice to get a win like this to make it all worth it. It may be No.1 (in his best wins).
Norrie has shown his quality in big matches recently – defeating former world No.5 Andrey Rublev in Vienna last week and with wins over Lorenzo Musetti, Sebastian Korda and Sebastian Baez in the last three months.
“What’s crazy is I was more tight serving for the match yesterday against (Sebastian) Baez, I don’t know why,” Norrie explained after the match.
“I went for a walk with my coach after and we spoke about serving for the match. I just told myself I wanted to be in this moment and to keep relaxed. I played really good shots and I just felt relaxed – it was nice to close it out in that fashion.”
In Alcaraz’s first match back on the ATP Tour in a month, the Spaniard got off to a good start, breaking early for a 3-2 lead before comfortably serving out the first set in 52 minutes.
Things started to go wrong for the 22-year-old in the second set as Norrie continued to ask questions and increase the physicality in the rallies.
Norrie was able to take advantage of an inconsistent performance from Alcaraz – with the Spaniard hitting 54 unforced errors to Norrie’s 25. The Briton took his one and only break point opportunity mid-way through the second set and with it, seemed to wrestle all the momentum in his favour.
The Roland Garros and US Open champion had been on a 53-3 winning record since April this year but couldn’t re-capture that vein of form in the third set either.
Norrie had chances to break in both of Alcaraz’s opening service games in the decider, but the world No.1 hung on for dear life before the 2021 Indian Wells champion got his breakthrough.
With the scores locked at 3-3, Norrie sent a backhand cross court and beyond the approaching Alcaraz to take a break advantage and move a step closer to a famous victory.
With the pressure mounting, Norrie saw off two break points in the following game before going on to serve out the match in style.
Norrie’s next opponent will be either world No.29 Arthur Rinderknech or Valentin Vacherot in a repeat of the recent Rolex Shanghai Masters final.
