Carlos Alcaraz lost his first match of the 2023 Paris Masters tournament. He was defeated by Roman Safiullin, who reached the quarter-finals of this year’s Wimbledon. Alcaraz made 27 unforced errors, resulting in a significant victory for Safiullin.
World No 2 Carlos Alcaraz lost his first match of the Paris Masters to Roman Safiullin, which was his first opening match defeat of the year 2023.
The two-time Grand Slam champion lost to the world No 45 with a score of 6-3 6-4. This was the first time the players faced each other on the ATP Tour. Alcaraz made 27 unforced errors, which helped the Russian player.
Safiullin converted 4 out of 8 break points and saved 2 out of 4 break points. Alcaraz also managed to engineer 4 break points. This victory is Alcaraz’s biggest so far.
The 26-year-old had a strong performance in 2023, reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. However, they lost to Jannik Sinner and finished as the runner-up to Alexander Zverev at the Chengdu Open.
Safiullin said after beating Alcaraz: “Against Carlos and these top-10, top-20 guys, you have to lift up the level. I managed to do it.
“For Carlos, it was not his best performance, but still I’m happy that I can win. Even if he’s not in the best shape it’s tough to beat him, so I’m really happy that I made it.
“Everything against these guys [is important]. Tactical, physical, the mental part. [It’s key] to stay focussed from the beginning to the end. Who can make it longer is going to be the winner.”
Alcaraz played his first match since losing in the last 16 to Grigor Dimitrov in Shanghai 20 days ago. He had to withdraw from last week’s event in Basel because of foot and back problems.
He appeared out of form as he lost his first match in a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time since being defeated by Tommy Paul in Montreal last year.
The 20-year-old took an early lead in the first set but was caught up. In the second set, he had a 3-1 advantage, but Safiullin won five out of the next six games to win.
Alcaraz’s defeat to Safiullin hurts his chances of finishing the season as the world’s No. 1 player for the second consecutive year.
Novak Djokovic, who is currently the top-ranked player, will start his Paris Masters campaign on Wednesday against Tomás Martín Etcheverry. Djokovic is aiming for his seventh title in this event.
Djokovic recently played doubles with his fellow countryman Miomir Kecmanovic. They won the match against Ecuador’s Gonzalo Escobar and Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Nedovyesov. This match marked Djokovic’s comeback after winning the US Open final against Daniil Medvedev on September 10th.
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