Monte Carlo Masters: Jannik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz to return to world top spot
Jannik Sinner returned to the top of the world for the first time since early November after his 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 Monte Carlo Masters final victory over reigning champion and world number one Carlos Alcaraz.
The decider in Monaco was the first meeting between the top two teams in the world since Sinner won consecutive ATP Championship finals last November.
In a tense and competitive match that featured a number of big shots, both players struggled with windy conditions, which added an element of unpredictability to the course of the match and led to 83 unforced errors between the pair.
The win gave the 24-year-old Italian, who has victories in Indian Wells and Miami, his third Masters 1000 title of the year and extended his winning streak in Masters series events to 22 matches.
After early breaks, neither player was able to fully impose themselves on the match and both had to work hard to hold serve at times.
But in the tiebreak Sinner stepped up her first serves and after squandering the first of two set points, Alcaraz’s double fault gave her the initiative in the match.
Sinner started the second set slowly, trailing 15-40 in the opening service game, but Alcaraz took the lead 2-1 and made the score 3-1.
However, the Italian player managed to stay in the match as Alcaraz could not gain the upper hand in service games and took the lead 4-3, putting pressure on his 22-year-old opponent, who had won 10 of the previous 16 matches.
Another shaky serve game from the Spaniard earned Sinner another break point and from then on he made no mistake, quickly completing his 27th ATP Tour victory.
