Sinner tops Monte Carlo

Jannik Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Sunday to win the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and move back to No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday. (atptour.com) The final turned on a tight first set that Sinner took in a tiebreak before he pulled away in the second. ATP Tour said the title was his third ATP Masters 1000 trophy of 2026. (atptour.com) Monte Carlo is one of the ATP Tour’s clay-court Masters events, a level below the four Grand Slam tournaments and above regular tour stops in ranking points. The winner gets 1,000 ranking points, and Sunday’s result closed the gap at the top immediately. (atptour.com) ATP Tour said Sinner’s win returned him to the top spot after a fast swing in the standings over the past month. Entering Indian Wells in March, Carlos Alcaraz led Sinner by 3,150 points, but Sinner then won Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo. (atptour.com) That sequence put Sinner alongside Novak Djokovic in 2015 as the only men to win the first three ATP Masters 1000 events of a season, according to ATP Tour. It also reset the top-rank race just as the European clay season moves toward Madrid, Rome and the French Open. (atptour.com) The tournament results page lists Sinner as the No. 2 seed and Alcaraz as the No. 1 seed in Monte Carlo, a sign of how narrow the margin had become before the final. The same page shows Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz won the doubles title on Sunday. (atptour.com) The ATP rankings page for April 13, 2026, lists Sinner at No. 1, confirming the change became official the day after the final. Alcaraz is No. 2 in the same rankings update. (atptour.com) For men’s tennis, the Monte Carlo final did not settle the rivalry so much as move the scoreboard again. Sinner left Monaco with the trophy and the ranking that both he and Alcaraz are chasing into the rest of the clay season. (atptour.com)