Another day, another Masters 1000 to Carlos Alcaraz’s name. That’s how it went when he took down Lorenzo Musetti in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters, capturing his sixth Masters 1000 title and clinching his first title in 13 months. So far, this has been quite a show for Alcaraz, who is capitalizing on the clay court surface to boost his games heading into the midseason.

In front of a jam-packed Court Rainier III crowd, Carlos Alcaraz made sure to show the best of his work with a composed performance from start to finish, making the most of a physically hampered Musetti in the third set to close out the championship round and come up with a strong finish, 3-6, 6-1, and 6-0.

In a quest to rediscover his winning rhythm in tennis, Alcaraz arrived in Monte Carlo with the hopes of showing that he could still win at the top of his game and dominate the clay court with ease. So far, he earned a gritty victory in the final over Musetti, and now he’s back in the win column and heads for the Madrid Open with a chance to go back-to-back on Masters 1000 wins.

A Solid Performance

Beating the likes of Francisco Cerundolo, Arthur Fils, Daniel Altmaier, and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Alcaraz has enjoyed a solid week so far, and his solid game against Musetti was nothing short of impressive as he dropped the first set before rallying for two straight to close out the Monte Carlo finish.

”I am really happy to win Monte-Carlo for the first time. It has been a really difficult week with a lot of difficult situations,” Alcaraz said. “I am proud with how I dealt with everything. It has been a difficult month for me, so coming here and seeing the hard work pay off makes me happy.”

Alcaraz leaned on his experience on the big stage, especially on clay. It can be remembered that he went on to win big in the clay – at the Roland Garros last season and then finishing silver in the Paris Olympics in what has been quite a sensational campaign that fans have been expecting from him so far.

Musetti, on the other hand, was competing for his first Masters 1000 final. He did match Alcaraz for most periods in the game, but his right leg came out to be the big issue in the third set as he was flexing it and later received treatment in the decider while the Spanish star sprinted to the finish.

Climbing to the Top

Alcaraz gets back on track after being sidetracked in his games for the last season, not being able to push deeper into the ATP Rankings. The Spaniard now moves up to world no. 2 after this win and will now pass Alexander Zverev – leading the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin so far.

The win sees Alcaraz tie Daniil Medvedev for the 10th most Masters 1000 wins in history, and looking forward to the Madrid Open, perhaps the 21-year-old can capitalize on the advantage of being on his home soil.

Alcaraz has already won in Madrid for two straight years in 2022 and 2023 before bowing out of the last season’s edition. Now he is seeking to get back to dominating the clay courts and live up to the hype that he may well be the next successor of Rafael Nadal when it comes to dominating the clay courts for years to come.