The men’s final of the China Open showcased an intense showdown between two top tennis players, with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz defeating world No. 1 Jannik Sinner after a hard-fought three-set match. Alcaraz triumphed with scores of 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, securing his 16th ATP Tour title.
The match featured remarkable rallies, highlighting the skills of both competitors, who are considered among the best in the world. Although Alcaraz has now claimed victory over Sinner in all three encounters this season, he commended the Italian player for his performance.
“It was a really close match,” the 21-year-old Alcaraz noted post-match. “Jannik, once again, he showed that he’s the best player in the world, at least for me. The level that he’s playing, it’s unbelievable. It’s a really high quality of tennis. Of shots, physically, mentally, he’s a beast.”
Throughout this season, both players captured the four Grand Slam titles, with Sinner winning the Australian Open and US Open, while Alcaraz took home the titles from Wimbledon and the French Open.
In the match, Alcaraz initially surged ahead but lost the first set in a tiebreak after Sinner fought off three set points. Sinner, who was on a 15-match winning streak, maintained the pressure in the second set, but Alcaraz managed to turn the tide, leveling the match.
In the decisive third set, Alcaraz gained momentum and initially pulled ahead 3-1. However, Sinner fought fiercely, pushing the match into a tiebreak where he held a 3-0 lead. Alcaraz rallied to win seven consecutive points, ultimately clinching the title after three hours and 21 minutes, marking it as the longest match in the tournament’s history.
“I’m really happy that in the third set, even though he broke my serve again and we were really close, I gave myself the chance to keep going, playing aggressively and at the end I’m really happy that I made it,” Alcaraz expressed after the intense competition.
This victory makes Alcaraz the first player to win ATP 500 titles on all surfaces since the series began in 2009.
For Sinner, the loss comes amid a challenging phase off the court. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recently filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after a tribunal concluded that Sinner was not at fault for testing positive for a banned substance earlier this year.
The 23-year-old has avoided competition suspension since the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) ruled that he was not at fault for testing positive for Clostebol, an anabolic steroid, after two samples revealed low levels of the substance taken eight days apart at Indian Wells in March.
Sinner explained through a social media statement that the positive tests resulted from “inadvertent contamination of Clostebol” during treatment from his physiotherapist.