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<\/p>\nAlcaraz was beaten in straight sets by the Russian<\/p>\n
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World number two Carlos Alcaraz crashed to a 6-3 6-4 loss to Russia\u2019s Roman Safiullin in the second round at the Paris Masters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Wimbledon champion looked off the pace as he made his return to action after withdrawing from the Swiss Indoors championships last week due to injury, losing the first set despite earning an early break.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old Spaniard seemed to recover as he again broke the feisty 45th-ranked Saffiullin\u2019s serve early in the second set to take a 3-1 advantage.<\/p>\n
But the 26-year-old Russian kept his foot on the gas to earn the biggest win of his career.<\/p>\n
The result was another blow to Alcaraz\u2019s hopes of gaining ground on Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings, with the top-ranked Serbian next in action on Wednesday against Argentina\u2019s Tomas Etcheverry.<\/p>\n
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Roman Safiullin took advantage of an underpar Alcaraz as he reached the third round<\/p>\n
Following his win Safiullin told on Amazon Prime Video: \u201cIt was tough, since qualies I was not playing at this level but against Carlos you have to lift up the level.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarlos\u2019 was not the best performance but I\u2019m still happy I could win because he is number two in the world, former world number one and has two grand slams, it is tough to beat him even if he is not in the best shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything against these guys, tactical, physical, mental is very important, to set focused form the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ninth seed Taylor Fritz\u2019s hopes of an ATP Finals berth diminished as the American withdrew before his second round match against Daniel Altmaier with an abdominal injury.<\/p>\n
The world number 10 will be out of the season-ending tournament should Denmark\u2019s sixth seed Holger Rune beat Dominic Thiem in his second round match.<\/p>\n
German 10th seed Alexander Zverev rallied from a sloppy start to beat Hungary\u2019s Marton Fucsovics 4-6 7-5 6-4, moving closer to securing his spot at the ATP Finals in Turin.<\/p>\n
Poland\u2019s Hubert Hurkacz, the 11th seed, also kept alive his Finals hopes by earning a hard-fought 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 win over American Sebastian Korda.<\/p>\n
Argentine Francisco Cerundolo saved a match point and bounced back from a two-game deficit in the third set to beat home favourite Gael Monfils 4-6 7-6(2) 7-5. <\/p>\n