The Spanish sensation came up against the world number 99, a wildcard entry to his home Masters.

However, despite his superior ranking of 35th in the world, Alcaraz struggled against the Frenchman.

After breaking Herbert to go 4-2 up in the opener, Alcaraz was immediately broken back and later forced into a tiebreak.

Herbert clinched the breaker 7-4 to be one set from victory. A second set saw no breaks and another tiebreak to decide it. This time Alcaraz took the advantage to claim it 7-2 and set a decider.

At 5-6 on the Herbert serve, a third breaker looked likely. But after setting himself up with two match points at 15-40, Alcaraz eventually triumphed on his third to claim victory.

The win adds to his previously only Masters 1000 victory, coming over Adrian Mannarino at the Madrid Masters in May.

The 18-year-old now holds a 2-4 record at this level over his young career. Alcaraz competed at Masters events in Miami, Madrid, Cincinnati and Indian Wells before Paris.

Next up, the Spaniard faces another exciting youngster in world number nine Jannik Sinner. Sinner is the tournament eighth seed, and is pushing to reach the ATP Finals for the very first time in his career.

The 20-year-old is currently eighth in the ATP Race to Turin, occupying the final qualification spot ahead of Hubert Hurkacz and Cameron Norrie.

Even if the Italian does not qualify for Turin, he will be eligible to play the Next Gen ATP Finals for players aged 21 and under, as is Alcaraz. Sinner won the last event in 2019.