18.57 CET - Carlos Alcaraz is into his 11th Masters final!
The Spanish world No. 2 didn't need to do anything fancy against Casper Ruud, who was beaten 6-4, 6-4 after 1 hour and 27 minutes. It was a serving masterclass from Alcaraz, who hit three aces in the last game and lost just 9 of 50 service points all day.
Alcaraz has set up a blockbuster final meeting with Ben Shelton, who eliminated the Spaniard in the quarterfinals at this year's US Open. The final will take place tomorrow afternoon at 15.00 CEST, and you can follow it point by point via tomorrow's live blog. See you then!
18.15 CET - It's Carlos Alcaraz who deals the first blow and takes a major first step towards the final, beating Ruud with an ace to finish the set 6-4 in 47 minutes.
The Spaniard reigned supreme on serve, losing just four service points in a dominant display.
17.28 CET - The second semifinal of the day is underway, with Casper Ruud opening the match against Carlos Alcaraz. Can the Norwegian former world No. 2 keep Alcaraz from reaching an 11th career Masters 1000 final?
17.05 CET - Ben Shelton moves on to the Paris Masters final!
The American leftie had to come from behind to beat home favourite Luca Van Assche, but did so to reach his third Masters final: 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Shelton struggled with his serve early on, but cleaned it up to end Van Assche's dream of a Masters 1000 final in 'his' Paris.
Next up is the contest between Carlos Alcaraz, who delivered an all-time performance against Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, and Casper Ruud, which is set to start in about ten minutes.
16.20 CET - Ben Shelton levels it! The American cleaned up on the unforced errors front and beat Van Assche 6-3 in 37 minutes to force a decisive third set. It's all to play for in Paris.
15.40 CET - Luke Van Assche draws first blood, taking the first set 7-5 after 55 minutes. The Belgian-born Frenchman broke Ben Shelton late in the tightly fought opening set, in which Van Assche won 39 of 76 points. As tight as it can be.
It's hit-and-miss with Ben Shelton's forehand, hitting 11 winners and 14 unforced errors with his left hand, while also hitting 9 aces. Can he turn it around?
13:50 CET - The semi-finals are underway! We'll be providing set-by-set updates here, and you can click here to follow every point of Shelton's clash.
13:10 CET - There's just over an hour to go until the semi-finals get underway with a clash between Shelton and Van Assche that the former is very much the favourite for.
The world number four has had a disappointing few months since losing the US Open final, but has rediscovered some form in Paris, with his victory over compatriot Paul in the last round being his best win since his home Grand Slam.
That being said, young French talent Van Assche has lit up his nation's capital this week. After seeing off 15th seed Learner Tien, he then took down Lorenzo Musetti and Rinky Hijikata, the players who had knocked Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic out.
This will be the first time that the two players have met.
10:30 CET - Hello, and welcome to our coverage of the 2026 Paris Masters semi-finals. Today, we will find out who will be gunning for the crown tomorrow in the season's last 1000 event before the ATP Finals in Turin.
We have two interesting semi-finals to enjoy: First, third seed Ben Shelton takes on rising home hope Luca van Assche from 14:30 CET, before second seed Carlos Alcaraz faces Casper Ruud not before 17:00 CET.
ATP Finals field set
Given Friday's quarter-final results in Paris, the field has now been set for the ATP Finals, which begin next Sunday.
Taylor Fritz had been in contention for Turin, but his loss to Alcaraz in what turned out to be a late-night classic meant that young Spaniard Rafael Jodar clinched the eighth berth.
Earlier on Friday, Tommy Paul's loss to Shelton ended his hopes of qualifying for the season-ender as well, with fellow American Frances Tiafoe sealing a spot as a result of Paul's miss.
With the group of eight now set for Turin, that takes out some of the drama from Paris, but certainly not all of it. No one in the semi-finals has ever won this event, with local breakout star Van Assche eyeing his first-ever Masters final!
