The ranking says that Jannik Sinner is number one and that he will finish the year ahead of the others. Tennis, however, sides with Carlos Alcaraz when deciding who is the best of the two.
For the sixth time in 10 matchesthird this season, Alcaraz decided in her favor the duel with the opponent she will face in most of the grand finals that await her in a splendid future.
Carlitos is crowned in Peking, where another Spaniard had previously reigned, Rafael Nadal. The advantage that Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil has over the rest is that the result, if he is well, It depends solely and exclusively on your racket.
The only thing that Sinner has better is his service and that doesn’t give him enough to beat Carlitos even on a hard surface, la favorite of the transalpine where this season has 39 victories.
The brand new champion from Beijing, with a score of 6-7(6), 6-4 and 7-6(3), in 3 hours and 21 minutes, He becomes the first tennis player to win 500 category tournaments on all three surfaces: he did it before in Rio and Barcelona (clay court) and Queen’s (grass).
Many statistics show that Alcaraz is the best. Perhaps the most insulting is the 8-1 against opponents from the ‘top5’ this season. He only won with Novak Djokovic in the final of the Paris Games.
Jannik won the psychological battle of the draw. He chose to subtract knowing that his opponent does not like to start serving. The Italian had to save a 0-40 in his first turn to serve.
Alcaraz was continuing his good performances in the Chinese tournament. It was Sinner who then threatened to break the Spaniard’s serve in the third game.
The tennis player from El Palmar accelerated to 5-2 and served at 5-3 to score the first set. His rival pulled the hierarchy and came back to force sudden death. Along the way, he saved a set point at 6-5, thanks to an accurate volley. He seemed limp on his knee and gesticulated, but then he ran at full speed.
The champion of four majors advanced with a 6-4 in the tie break. A direct serve and a forehand return winner neutralized the second and third balls of the set.
So many missed opportunities are paid for and Sinner took the set on the first try with a backhand error from the other side of the net.
Breakage occasions
In the sequel, the script changed. Carlitos had his chance to get back on track with 3-3 and 15-40. Two more breaking balls that escaped him (1 of 7) and they gave air to their opponent.
The first favorite in the draw enjoyed two points after making it 5-3 and served. He failed and the Murcian freed himself because it took him forever to make it 4-4. He signed the tables on the scoreboard. The final started from scratch, but with more than two hours in our legs.
Jannik seemed more tired and That’s why the chair umpire gave him a warning for delaying his service in the third game of the tiebreaker set.. He lost it.
Alcaraz enjoyed a 3-1 and 15-40. One more point would have meant the sentence. This did not arrive and it went from 4-1 to 4-4. That’s what tennis has.
On Sinner’s Ground
Such a close final deserved to end in another tie break, the San Candido tennis player’s favorite terrain, that had added positively 17 of the last 18. Sinner was 3-0, but the immortal Spaniard turned it around with seven points in a row.
Carlitos ended in March, in the semifinals of Indian Wells, with the transalpine’s unbeaten streak in 2024. The 14 matches won in a row by the Italian since Montreal are now history while Carlitos’ nine in a row continue to count.
