(Reuters) – World number two Carlos Alcaraz suffered a defeat in the second round of the Paris Masters on Tuesday, losing 6-3 6-4 to Russia’s Roman Safiullin. Alcaraz, who recently withdrew from the Swiss Indoors championships due to injury, struggled to find his rhythm in his return to action. Despite breaking Safiullin’s serve early in the first set, Alcaraz lost the set. He managed to break Safiullin’s serve again in the second set, taking a 3-1 lead, but Safiullin maintained his momentum and secured his biggest career win so far.
This loss is a setback for Alcaraz’s bid to close the gap on Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings. Djokovic, the top-ranked Serbian player, will be playing his next match against Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry. In another unfortunate turn of events, ninth seed Taylor Fritz had to withdraw from his second-round match against Daniel Altmaier due to an abdominal injury. Fritz’s chances of participating in the ATP Finals have diminished, and he will be out of the season-ending tournament if Denmark’s sixth seed Holger Rune defeats Dominic Thiem in their second-round match.
In a comeback victory, German 10th seed Alexander Zverev overcame a slow start to defeat Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 4-6 7-5 6-4. Zverev’s win brings him one step closer to securing his spot at the ATP Finals in Turin. Similarly, Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, the 11th seed, kept his Finals hopes alive by battling to a hard-fought 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 victory over American Sebastian Korda.
Argentine Francisco Cerundolo pulled off an impressive comeback against home favorite Gael Monfils, saving a match point and recovering from a two-game deficit in the third set to win 4-6 7-6(2) 7-5.
Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Toby Davis
