Carlos Alcaraz struggled during the Sunshine Double, but he is back with a vengeance on clay.
The reigning French Open champion, who lost in the Indian Wells semis and in the Miami second round, triumphed at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters by beating Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 on Sunday afternoon. Alcaraz came back from a set down for the third time this week and prevailed in one hour and 47 minutes.
“I am really happy to win Monte-Carlo for the first time,” said Alcaraz, who lost his opening match in his only previous appearance at this Masters 1000 event. “It has been a really difficult week with a lot of difficult situations. I am proud with how I dealt with everything. It has been a difficult month for me, so coming here and seeing the hard work pay off makes me happy.”
For Musetti, the tables were turned on him in his first Masters 1000 final. The 16th-ranked Italian had come back from a set deficit a whopping four times already in Monte-Carlo, but this time he could not maintain a set advantage of his own. After dropping the second, Musetti had nothing left physically for the decider.
“It is not the way I would have wanted to win a match,” Alcaraz admitted. “Thinking about Lorenzo, he has been through a tough week–played long matches. I feel sorry for him. It is one of his best results; ending up like this is not easy. Hopefully it is nothing serious and he will be 100 percent soon.”
Alcaraz now heads to a home tournament in Barcelona, where he is the top seed. Musetti was in the draw as the No. 8 seed but has already withdrawn.
nice one, Carlos