Carlos Alcaraz becomes first player to beat Jannik Sinner in straight sets since 2023

Carlos Alcaraz captured his third title of the year—and the 19th of his career—in Rome on Sunday, and he did it in style, too, defeating world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final of the Masters 1000 event.

But it was the way he did it that made it even more special.

With a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory, Alcaraz became the first player to beat Sinner in straight sets since 2023.

Yes, 2023.

You have to go all the way back to Sunday, November 19th, 2023—546 days ago—to find the last time that happened, when Novak Djokovic defeated him in the final of the ATP Finals, 6-3, 6-3.

Sinner had gone 88-6 in 94 matches between that day and today, and in all six of those losses he won at least one set:

• l. to Alcaraz in '24 Indian Wells SFs, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
• l. to Tsitsipas in '24 Monte Carlo SFs, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
• l. to Alcaraz in '24 Roland Garros SFs, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• l. to Medvedev in '24 Wimbledon QFs, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3
• l. to Rublev in '24 Canada QFs, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2
• l. to Alcaraz in '24 Beijing F, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6

Alcaraz's straight-set win on Sunday almost didn't happen, though.

After 11 straight holds to start the final, Sinner brought up double set point at the end of the first set with Alcaraz serving at 5-6, 15-40—but the Spaniard dug out of it to hold for 6-all, jumped out to a 3-0 lead en route to taking the tie-break, 7-5, then opened up a 5-0 lead in the second set and served it out a few games later.

Not only is Alcaraz the first player to beat Sinner in straight sets since 2023, he's actually the only player to beat him more than once since the start of 2024—and he's done it four times in that span, going 4-0 against him with wins at Indian Wells, Roland Garros and Beijing last year and now Rome this year.

He's also the first player to beat Sinner twice since he became No. 1 after Roland Garros last year (after his win in the Beijing final).

And last but not least, Alcaraz is now 11-1 in finals at Grand Slams (4-0) and Masters 1000s (7-1) combined. His only career loss in a final at either level came to Djokovic in Cincinnati in 2023, and he actually held a match point in that 5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) defeat.