Carlos Alcaraz proved too strong for home favourite Jannik Sinner in the final of the Italian Open, winning 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 in Rome.
In Sinner’s first tournament back after a three-month doping ban, a tight first set went to a tiebreak as Alcaraz then kicked on to a 3-0 advantage within it, closing it out 7-5 for a crucial lead.
The second set could not have proven more one-sided, however, as a dominant Alcaraz streaked out to a 5-0 lead, with Sinner powerless to stop him closing the game out on serve.
After Jasmine Paolini’s trophy success in the women’s final on Saturday, Italy were looking to earn their first ever sweep of the Rome singles titles this weekend.
Instead, the last local man to raise the trophy remains Adriano Panatta in 1976.
Since the start of last year, Alcaraz is the only player to beat Sinner more than once and now he’s done it four straight times.
Alcaraz picked up Italian Open final success vs home favourite Sinner on Sunday
Alcaraz’s victory before Sinner’s home fans at the Foro Italico snapped the Italian’s 26-match winning streak, which stretched back to October – when Alcaraz beat him in the China Open final in a third-set tiebreaker. Alcaraz now leads the career series 7-4.
Alcaraz also solidified his status as the favourite to defend his title at the French Open, which starts next Sunday.
Sinner was playing his first tournament since he won his third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January. In February, Sinner agreed to a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency that raised questions since the three-month suspension allowed him not to miss any Grand Slams, and come back at his home tournament.
A large number of the 10,500 fans in Campo Centrale were decked out in orange – Sinner’s theme color – and they were chanting Sinner’s name before the match even began.
But Sinner wasted two set-points on Alcaraz’s serve when he led 6-5 in the first set and then Alcaraz jumped ahead in the tiebreaker with two aces and held on to seal it before cruising in the second set.
Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion, will move back up to No 2 in the rankings on Monday after his third final in three clay-court events this season. He won the Monte Carlo Masters and finished runner-up in the Barcelona Open before withdrawing from the Madrid Open because of injury.
Having also won the Madrid Open in 2022 and 2023, Alcaraz became the fifth man to win all three Masters 1000 clay events after Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Gustavo Kuerten and Marcelo Rios.
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