Carlos Alakraj won the Italian Open in the final and firing a warning shot for Rolland Garos in the finals to beat rival Jannik Sinner 7-6 (7/5), 6–1 on Sunday. Alakraj, who will climb world number two behind the sinner on Monday, won his third title of the season, eventually dominated the sinner and silenced over 10,000 fans packed in the center court stand. Spaniard claimed victory in his fourth final of the season and sent a message to the rest of the men’s tour for the French Open, where he would defend the title after the end of next week. Alkaraz said, “Jenic beating and winning in Rome, I think the two things together give you a great confidence in Paris.”
“I’m going to enjoy this moment with my family, with my team, with friends coming from home. And just to rest for a few days to feel what I have achieved, it’s also important. And then my attention is on Rolland Garos.”
The Sinner tops the world rankings, but his 26 -match winning streak was abolished by Alakraj, the person who beat him for the last year’s China Open final.
Alakraj is the only person to defeat the sinner in a tour final since the beginning of 2024, when his Italian rival began his rise at the top of the men’s tennis and three Grand Slam titles.
The 22 -year -old has swinging a highly influential clay court this season, even with a thigh injury, he got a chance to compete in the Madrid Open.
Alakraj won his second masters 1000 title in Rome to go with his victory in Monte Carlo last month. He also reached the finals in Barcelona.
The finishing runner-up is still a very positive result for the sinner in its first tournament as a contamination doping officers were accepted for the clostebol mark since their three-month ban for positive testing twice in March last year.
Sinner allowed two set points to slip in the first set game 12 and had a turning point in the match, closing the first three points of the tie-break before going ahead in the match.
Alkaraz went through gear to win the first five matches of the second set as he first operated the crown of Rome.
The encouraging return of the synergies, however, determines the possibility of another final conflict with Alakraj in Rolland Garos, with two top seeds in Paris with two young stars of men’s tennis.
Sinner said in court that Alkaraz would be “The Man to Beat” in Paris and then jokingly thanked his brother Mark “instead of being here to go to Imola to see Formula One Grand Prix”.
The 23 -year -old was running a gun to become the first Italian man to win in Italico since Adriano Panata in 1976, but failed to make Vijay’s hat -trick for the players of the house in the Italian capital.
Earlier, Jasmine Paolini became the first woman since Monica Seles in 1990, when she and Sara Irani defeated Veronica Kudematova and Elis Martens 6-4, 7-5.
Paolini won one day after the former US Open champion Coco Goff over the former sets, and became the first Italian woman to win a singles title since Rafella Regi in 1985.
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