Carlos Alcaraz has won the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters for the first time in his career after a 3-6 6-1 6-0 victory over Lorenzo Musetti.
The Spaniard once again had a slow start to the contest but came through in three sets to win his maiden Monte-Carlo title.
As for Musetti, the Italian struggled with an injury towards the end of the match as this was one step too far for the 13th seed.
The win also means Alcaraz is the new world number two in the world rankings, overtaking Alexander Zverev.
Both players shared breaks of serve to start the match but it was Musetti who took control of the contest by break in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead.
The Italian was playing his first Masters 1000 final but was full of confidence as he edged to a hold of serve to consolidate the break.
Meanwhile Alcaraz continued his theme of slow starts as he found it tough to break through Musetti’s game.
A comfortable set on serve for Musetti meant the Italian took the opening set in 42 minutes.
However joy and success after that was limited as Alcaraz dominated play from the baseline and made an important start to the second set.
The world number three neutralised Musetti’s serve and any chance of a service hold was nullified by the clinical Alcaraz.
Two quick breaks of serve saw Alcaraz take a 5-0 lead as he was coasting through the second set with ease.
There was a late fightback from Musetti but the Italian couldn’t convert any of his three break point opportunities as frustrations boiled over.
A fourth set point was converted by Alcaraz as he continued to completely dominate the baseline exchanges.
Musetti had spent a lot of time on court leading up to this match and the fatigue finally showed as he had no energy in the final set.
A procession to the title awaited Alcaraz as he won all six games to claim his first Masters 1000 title in more than a year.
It’s Alcaraz’s sixth Masters 1000 title as he now overtakes Alexander Zverev as the new world number two in the rankings.
