Sinner beats Alcaraz

Jannik Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(5), 6-3 on April 12 to win the Monte Carlo Masters and take back the world No. 1 ranking. (atptour.com) The final was the first Sinner-Alcaraz meeting of 2026, and it came with two prizes: the title in Monte Carlo and the top spot in the ATP rankings. Monte Carlo ran from April 5 to April 12 at the Monte-Carlo Country Club in Monaco. (atptour.com) Sinner won his first ATP Masters 1000 title on clay in windy conditions on Court Rainier III, adding an eighth Masters 1000 trophy overall. ATP said he became the second man after Novak Djokovic in 2015 to win the first three Masters 1000 events of a season. (atptour.com, atptour.com) The result ended Alcaraz’s title defense in Monte Carlo and flipped the rankings again at the top of men’s tennis. ATP said Sinner returned to No. 1 on April 13, his first week back there since November 3, 2025. (atptour.com, atptour.com) Monte Carlo is the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the European clay season, the stretch that leads into the French Open in Paris in late May. Alcaraz arrived as defending champion and as the player most associated with recent clay-court success, which made Sinner’s straight-sets win a sharper marker before the next big tournaments. (atptour.com, atptour.com, washingtonpost.com) Sinner’s win also widened a season résumé that already included Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Miami, according to ATP. That run pushed him past 13,000 ranking points for the first time, Tennis.com reported. (atptour.com, tennis.com) Alcaraz still left Monte Carlo with a second straight trip to the final there after beating Valentin Vacherot in the semifinals. The Spaniard had opened the week as world No. 1 and defending champion, with ATP listing him among the top seeds in the draw. (tennismajors.com, atptour.com) For now, the clay season belongs to Sinner as much as the hard-court swing did. He left Monaco with the trophy, the ranking, and a win over the one rival who had owned this event a year earlier. (atptour.com, montecarlotennismasters.com)