Carlos Alcaraz won the ATP master in Monte Carlo – even though he had big problems at the beginning of the final.
Alcaraz prevailed in the tournament at 6.8 million euros on the Mediterranean coast in the final against the Italian Lorenzo Musetti 3: 6, 6: 1, 6: 0.
Due to the victory, Alcaraz moves past Alexander Zverev in second place in the world rankings. The top seed Alexander Zverev had already failed at the opening hurdle in round 2 against Matteo Berrettini. For Novak Djokovic, too, Monte Carlo ended early.
Musetti starts aggressive, but then has problems
The 21-year-old started the game with a break, but was faced with a 1: 4 deficit shortly afterwards. The aggressive style of playing the Italian caused Alcaraz major problems – after 41 minutes the first set clearly went to Musetti.
After the short break, the favorite then had the muscles playing and ensured the set equalization with a 6-1. Musetti plagued health problems in the decision round. The Italian’s radius of movement was almost no longer existent, the front thigh caused problems.
Medical break does not help
At 0: 3 he took a medical time that apparently did not help. As a result, he let the other three games endure. After 1:47 hours, Alcaraz celebrated the victory. “This is not the way I wanted to win a match. Hopefully it is nothing serious at Lorenzo”said Alcaraz: “But I am very happy to have won in Monte Carlo for the first time. It was a complicated week with some difficult situations. I am glad that the work paid off.”
Despite the defeat, Musetti also climbs in the world rankings. Thanks to his first final participation in a Masters tournament, he improves in eleventh place and can therefore look forward to the best placement of his career.