Spain's Carlos Alcaraz topples world tennis number one in Rome thriller

Carlos Alcaraz clinched his first Rome Masters title with a commanding 7-6 (5) 6-1 victory over world number one Jannik Sinner on Sunday, completing the rare clay court Masters triple and underlining his credentials ahead of Roland Garros.

The 21-year-old from El Palmar, Murcia, denied Sinner the chance to become the first Italian to win in Rome since Adriano Panatta in 1976, while also extending his head-to-head lead over the top-ranked player to 7-4.

It was Alcaraz’s fourth win in a row over Sinner and his 43rd victory in 44 matches since August.

Sinner, playing his first event following a three-month doping suspension, appeared strong early on and held firm in the first set. He saved two break points and came within a whisker of clinching the opener before Alcaraz edged it in a tie-break.

The Spaniard, urged on by coach Juan Carlos Ferrero to step forward and dictate, recovered from a double fault at 4-2 to close out the set, sapping the energy from his opponent.

From there, the match turned sharply. Sinner, visibly drained, offered little resistance as Alcaraz surged ahead. "It was one of my best matches of the year," Alcaraz said, having added Rome to previous titles in Monte Carlo and Rotterdam.

Alcaraz now sits just 1,530 points behind Sinner in the ATP rankings but is the frontrunner in the 2025 race to number one, with a 990-point lead heading into the French Open.