Making just his second appearance at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Carlos Alcaraz lifted the trophy in Rome for the first time in his career with a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory over Jannik Sinner on Sunday evening. Alcaraz extended his head-to-head winning streak against Sinner to four matches after prevailing in one hour and 43 minutes.
It was a competitive opening set between the undisputed two best players on tour, but once Alcaraz came out on top in the tiebreaker it was one-way traffic the rest of the way. The third-seeded Spaniard raced to a 5-0 lead in the second before clinching victory with a tough hold at 5-1. He capitalized on his third championship point with a lunging forehand volley winner.
This marks Alcaraz’s seventh Masters 1000 title and he is an unbelievable 11-1 combined in Masters and Grand Slam finals.
It is the first loss of the year for Sinner, who was playing his first tournament since the Australian Open after being suspended for three months. The top-ranked Italian triumphed Down Under and was 12-0 this season heading into his first Rome final.
“First thing i want to say is that I’m just really happy to see Jannik back at this amazing level,” Alcaraz commented. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him coming from three months without playing, and the first tournament he played, making the final of a Masters 1000 here in Rome is something insane. So I have to congratulate him for the great week–for his team, as well. I’m super happy to see them around again.
“I’m just really, really happy to get my first Rome (title). I hope it’s not gonna be the last one…. I’m just proud [of] myself–the way I approached the match, mentally in terms of hitting shots, tactically I think it did pretty well from the first point until the last one. I didn’t do a roller-coaster; I maintained my good level during the whole match.”
Alcaraz moves up to No. 2 in the world and he and Sinner will be the top two seeds at Roland Garros, which begins next Sunday.
too good, Carlos
Hell yeah
That first set was awesome….Zv wins Hamburg….Kec wins Geneva
ouch!!!!
Zverev winning Hamburg has more logic than Kecmanovic winning Geneva …