Carlos Alcaraz won the last seven points of the match, streaking to seven successive points in a deciding final-set tie-break to beat world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final of the China Open in Beijing.
The next generation of tennis greats – and perhaps the next great rivalry in men’s tennis – battled for well over three hours before Alcaraz finally prevailed 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Having cruised into a 5-2 lead in the opening set, Alcaraz wobbled to allow defending champion Sinner to reel off four of the next five games to force a tie-break that the Italian won with three breaks of serve. An hour-long second set was settled in Alcaraz’s favor, but a topsy-turvy deciding set went the distance. Sinner breezed into a 3-0 lead in the final-set tie-breaker, only for Alcaraz to string together an extraordinary run of seven straight points to claim the crown.
The win for Alcaraz was his sixth in the 10 career meetings with Sinner. Alcaraz has won all three meetings in the 2024 season, also winning in the semifinals of Indian Wells and Roland Garros. Both young stars split the four Grand Slam tournament crows in 2024, Sinner winning the Australian and U.S. Opens and Alcaraz winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
The two played one of the great matches in U.S. Open history in 2022, as discussed here “Alcaraz – Sinner Post Script: Keep Late Night US Open Matches” https://youtu.be/esRmKjEr4EA?si=GDeHYxRLtC5lDTVZ via @YouTube
