Six-time Grand Slam champion never won Paris Masters in five attempts
\n PARIS
\nWorld number one Carlos Alcaraz was stunned in his opening match at the Paris Masters on Tuesday as he went down to 31st-ranked Briton Cameron Norrie 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
\nThe six-time Grand Slam champion has never won the Paris Masters in five attempts and now faces losing his place atop the rankings should rival Jannik Sinner win the tournament in the French capital.
\nReturning from three weeks out of official competition due to an ankle issue, Alcaraz claimed the opening set as he displayed his usual combination of fire and flair.
\nHowever, much like his ultimately successful run at the French Open this spring, the Spaniard\u2019s level dropped off a cliff mid-match.
\nThis time, he was made to pay.
\n\u201cI\u2019m really disappointed about my level today,\u201d Alcaraz told reporters after the loss.
\n\u201cI had all the ideas clear, all the goals clear, but today, even in the first set, which I won, I felt I could do a lot more than I actually did.
\n\u201cI have to give credit to Cam… He played really well today, a solid match, and I think that was the key.\u201d
\nThe mercurial Norrie, who drew his fair share of admiring gasps from the 17,500-capacity centre court at the La Defense Arena, capitalised on his opponent\u2019s errors by breaking him twice at crucial times in the second and third sets.
\nThe 30-year-old said the win was \u201cmaybe the number one\u201d of his career.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been working really hard this year, so it\u2019s nice to get a win like this to make it worth it,\u201d added the former world number eight.
\nDuring the interval before the decider, Alcaraz had an animated discussion with his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero.
\nIt was to no avail, however, as the El Palmar native continued to be wayward with his first serve and backhand.
\nAlcaraz saved break points on consecutive games before it was third time lucky for Norrie as the Briton finally broke at 3-3 to close in on victory.
\nAlcaraz made him serve it out, and a first match point went begging as a groundstroke by Norrie bobbled twice on the net cord before agonisingly falling on his side of the net.
\nBut the Briton composed himself to seal the victory at the second time of asking and earn his third career win over the 22-year-old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Six-time Grand Slam champion never won Paris Masters in five attempts PARIS World number one Carlos Alcaraz was stunned in his opening match at the Paris Masters on Tuesday as he went down to 31st-ranked Briton Cameron Norrie 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The six-time Grand Slam champion has never won the Paris Masters in five attempts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-511548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n