The lesson is not new for Carlos Alcaraz, but he had to learn it again on Friday night. Nervous for a set and a half, a point away from defeat twice, the second seed only found his best tennis against Taylor Fritz once he convinced himself that what he was playing was just a game. He saved two match points and won 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-3 to reach his first semi-final at the Rolex Paris Masters.

“I have to figure out what happened at the beginning, why I played so nervous,” he said in his post-match debrief with the reporter, including Tennis Majors. “Once again I realised that I just have to enjoy. At the end of the day, this is just a game. If I lose, if I win, it’s just a game. It’s about stepping on the court, having fun, playing the best that I can, entertaining the people, and then when I leave the court, if I lose or win, everybody is happy. So I’m going to try to do that in every match.”

In the tie-break, I had my chances that I didn’t take the most of, making decisions that I regret, to be honest.

Asked whether emotions had turned the match around, Alcaraz answered: “100%.” He broke first and served for the opening set at 5-4. That is when, he said, the nerves kicked in. “I started the match really well, but suddenly I felt the nerves at 5-4, serving for the first set” he said. “I think he started to play more solid, to play a little bit better from the baseline. When I didn’t get free points with the serve, I struggled a little bit in the rallies, which made it even more difficult for me.”

Fritz won the first-set tie-break 12-10, after saving three set points. “In the tie-break, I had my chances that I didn’t take the most of, making decisions that I regret, to be honest,” Alcaraz said. “The second set, kind of the same feeling.”

“I started to smile”

The match turned at 3-5 in the second set, when Alcaraz saved Fritz’s first match point on his own serve and held. “After that 5-3, I saved that game and I started to pull out all the nerves,” he said. “I started to enjoy, because I pulled off great shots and great points. I started to smile, I started to bring the energy from the people to the match. I tried to use their energy, trying to entertain a little bit, and after that I started to enjoy every single second, every single point. I think that’s the key today.”

“Probably this match is going to be one of the most special matches that I ever played,” he added. “I’m going to remember this match for a long time.” Alcaraz, who had never gone beyond the quarter-finals in Paris, will face Nuno Borges or Casper Ruud in the semi-finals on Saturday.