Alcaraz exits Paris Masters in thriller, Zverev through to face Tsitsipas

PARIS : French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz failed to reach the Paris Masters quarter-finals after a thrilling 6-1 3-6 7-5 defeat to local favourite Ugo Humbert on Thursday.

The Frenchman, ranked 18th in the world, wrapped up the first set in 26 minutes as Alcaraz struggled to find his rhythm.

Spain's world number two refused to go quietly and took a 5-2 lead before closing out the second set with a hold to love.

But Humbert, buoyed by the home crowd, managed to overpower Alcaraz in the third set and become the first Frenchman to beat a top-five player at the Paris tournament since 2019 when his coach Jeremy Chardy downed Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

Earlier, third seed Alexander Zverev defeated 20th-ranked Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-4 3-6 6-3 after recovering from a second-set wobble to set up a clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The 10th-seeded Greek ousted Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 after recovering from losing a tight first set.

Ninth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia also managed to come from behind to beat Britain's Jack Draper 5-7 6-2 6-3.

His compatriot Jordan Thompson also reached the last eight with a 7-5 7-6(5) victory over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. However, Australia's Alexei Popyrin failed to join his countrymen as he fell to Russian Karen Khachanov 7-6(5) 6-4.

Holger Rune struggled against French lucky loser Arthur Cazaux, who had replaced world number one Jannik Sinner after the world number one pulled out with a virus. However, Danish 13th seed Rune recovered from a set down to win 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Rune next faces De Minaur while Thompson meets Humbert.