Carlos Alcaraz enjoyed the double of winning the U.S. Open and displacing Jannik Sinner as the world No. 1 on Sunday. Sinner had no answer to Alcaraz’s box of tricks.
Carlos Alcaraz claimed his second U.S. Open title and the world No.1 ranking after beating Jannik Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday evening. The Italian ceded his position as the world’s top-ranked player to his great rival and was always second-best.
Events unfurled to the rhythm of only one racket. In cinematic terms, Sinner was the Salieri to Alcaraz’s Mozart. President Trump’s security arrangements held up the blue carpet arrival of the two best players in the world for almost 50 minutes, and hundreds of spectators outside missed the 22-year-old’s brilliant opening act.
The Alcaraz and Sinner trilogy in major finals began with an epic French Open final that came in at a whopping five hours and 29 minutes. That blockbuster, which Alcaraz won after a Houdini escape, has been followed by two solid sequels. Sinner subdued an out- of-sorts Spaniard at Wimbledon in four sets, and Alcaraz returned the favor here.
While Sinner only survived by the skin of his teeth at SW19 after Grigor Dimitrov retired hurt at two sets up in their last 16 clash, Alcaraz has been wearing an invincibility cloak for the 15 days of the main draw at Flushing Meadows. He lost only one of 22 sets played, and even that was down mainly to an unlikely wobble on his first serve that brought Sinner briefly back into the contest at one set all.
