Sinner reclaims world No 1 from Alcaraz after Monte Carlo triumph

Monte-Carlo – Jannik Sinner is once again the king of men’s tennis, wresting back the ATP world No 1 ranking with a composed 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters final.

The win, played out amid swirling coastal wind and heavy skies inside the Monte-Carlo Country Club, ends Alcaraz’s brief second stint at the summit and returns the Italian to a perch he last held in November 2025. For Sinner, it also delivers a maiden Masters 1000 crown on clay and stretches his remarkable unbeaten streak at the elite level to 22 matches.

Alcaraz arrived on the Côte d’Azur knowing only the title would keep him in top spot, and he burst from the gate by breaking Sinner in the opening game. Yet the Spaniard could not consolidate the advantage; Sinner levelled at 2-2 and, after saving a set point on his own delivery, forced the tie-break that decided the opener. A double fault from Alcaraz at 5-6 handed the Italian the set after 74 hard-fought minutes.

The second chapter followed a similar script. Alcaraz struck early for a 2-0 lead, only to see his advantage evaporate as unforced errors crept in. Sinner reeled off six of the final seven games, reading the Spaniard’s drop-shots and passing shots with increasing authority to seal victory in one hour 54 minutes.

“Getting back to No 1 means a lot to me,” Sinner told the crowd during the trophy ceremony. “At the same time, the ranking is secondary. I’m very happy to win at least one big trophy on this surface—I haven’t done it before, so it means a lot.”

The triumph makes Sinner just the third man, after Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, to capture four consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles. Alcaraz, gracious in defeat, praised his rival: “It’s impressive what you are achieving right now. To win the Sunshine Double and Monte-Carlo, it’s incredible. Congratulations for the work you’re doing with your team.”

Neither player managed the shot-making pyrotechnics that lit up their 2024 duels, the capricious wind blunting both forehands. Still, the encounter brimmed with tension: Sinner saved seven of eight break points faced, while Alcaraz coughed up 32 unforced errors, 18 more than the Italian.

Attention now shifts to the European clay swing. Both finalists are entered for this week’s Barcelona Open, where Britain’s Jack Draper will also feature, before the tour heads to Madrid and Rome ahead of Roland-Garros at the end of May.

In Sunday’s WTA action, 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva captured her second tour-level title at the Linz Open, rallying past Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. Potapova, who changed national affiliation from Russia to Austria in December, reached her first final under the new flag.

ATP and WTA events stream live on Sky Sports and the NOW platform.