Carlos Alcaraz Beats Jannik Sinner With Smart Control In Italian Open

Carlos Alcaraz won his maiden Italian Open after defeating Jannik Sinner 7-6 (5), 6-1 in Rome on Sunday. The match was widely anticipated as a good barometer for the French Open at Roland Garros which starts on May 25.

The Italian Open is a Mini Slam that has designs on becoming the fifth major. A retractable roof costing $67 million is slated for the 2028 tournament with increased capacity on Stadio Centrale. Once upon a time, the Rome Masters became an “unofficial” major when it witnessed a magnificent five-setter between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in 2006. After that, Nadal blew Federer away in Paris. Alcaraz might not do that to Sinner, but on this evidence, he holds all the cards.

The match simmered nicely in a very competitive first set before Alcaraz’s clay court cojones started to click. The 22-year-old Spaniard has now won eight titles on the red dust, including the recent Monte-Carlo Masters. He has also been victorious in 11 out of 12 combined Grand Slam and Masters 1000 events, only losing to Novak Djokovic in a scintillating Cincinnati Open contest in 2023.

“You were really respectful to me and when I wasn’t playing against Italian players, it was like playing at home,” Alcaraz said to a sporting crowd after the match. However hostile the territory, the current French Open champion absorbs it all and delivers more often than not on the final business day. Sinner was equally civil. “I would have signed to reach the final before the tournament. You are surely the strongest player on clay, good luck for the whole season, see you in Paris,” said the world No. 1

Sinner’s relationship with the Roman crowd is far more comfortable than his record on the red dust. He still only has one clay title – the Croatia Open in 2022 – and this defeat broke a string of 26 consecutive victories. The Murcia man showed no mercy to his opponent in a one-sided second set. There was no wobble. It was ruthless Alcaraz, like the Wimbledon 2024 version.

As the combatants arrived for battle, there was an air of uncertainty about how this would play out. Sinner had come back seamlessly from a three-month doping ban, while Alcaraz was coming off three clay finals in a row. Both had more problematic semi-finals, but that’s the nature of the surface. As David Ferrer once said: “Clay courts taught me patience and resilience.”

There was little or nothing in the first set. Sinner saved a break point, but pushed Alcaraz on serve early. The Italian had two set points but missed a backhand at 30-40 when leading 6-5. A tie-break can be won or lost by a thread and that’s where the match turned.

When Alcaraz found his way out of 0-30 in the first service game of the second set, he ran away with it. The repertoire of pace-off groundstrokes, loopy topspin, and turbo boost when necessary took the power from Sinner’s racket. Alcaraz surmised that it was his best tactical match and that his focus is better primed when playing the current U.S. Open champion. It showed a level of smartness he hadn’t managed against Novak Djokovic in Melbourne.

Sinner’s vulnerability showed up when he lost the opening set 6-1 to Tommy Paul on Friday, before blitzing through the next two. There’s a whole world of difference when facing Alcaraz who can mould magic on the clay.

That’s four defeats on the spin now to the Spaniard. It’s hardly a crisis as rivalries can swing in momentum, but Sinner needs to elevate some aspects of his game on the clay. His serve punch isn’t as penetrative and the vagaries of the surface can eat away at those whose first love is the hard courts.

“It is not about just playing in finals, it is about winning. I repeat that to myself,” said Alcaraz afterwards. Both men tend to win when it matters, sharing seven Grand Slam titles out of seven. If they meet for a twelfth time in Paris, something will have to give.