Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, celebrates after defeating Jannik Sinner, of Italy, within the males’s singles last of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Picture/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz reasserted his superiority over Jannik Sinner with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory Sunday within the U.S. Open last — the third Grand Slam match in a row the place these elite, younger rivals met to determine the champion — for his second trophy at Flushing Meadows and sixth total at a serious.
President Donald Trump sat in a sponsor’s suite in Arthur Ashe Stadium and obtained a mixture of cheers and boos when he provided a wave beforehand and once more when he was proven on videoboards after the primary set. The match’s begin was delayed by a couple of half-hour as a result of hundreds of followers had been nonetheless exterior in line, making an attempt to get by means of the additional safety measures in place due to the presence of a sitting president on the match for the primary time since Invoice Clinton in 2000.
Maybe the additional wait received the No. 1-seeded Sinner, who was the defending champion. Proper from the start beneath a closed roof due to rain earlier within the day, No. 2 Alcaraz was higher as he sought to reverse the end result from after they met on the All England Membership lower than two months in the past.
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He did simply that, placing his leads over Sinner at 10-5 of their head-to-head sequence, 6-4 in main trophies, and 2-1 in U.S. Open championships. Plus, this win allowed Alcaraz, a 22-year-old from Spain, to remove the No. 1 rating from Sinner, a 24-year-old from Italy.
These two guys are so, so significantly better than the remainder of males’s tennis in the intervening time.
They’ve mixed to gather the previous eight Slam trophies in a row, and 10 of 13. Novak Djokovic, whom Alcaraz eradicated in Friday’s semifinals, took the opposite three in that span.
Sunday’s showdown represented the primary time in tennis historical past that the identical two males performed one another in three consecutive Slam finals inside a single season.
This tough-court matchup adopted Alcaraz’s victory over Sinner after erasing a trio of match factors on the French Open’s pink clay in June, and Sinner’s victory over Alcaraz on Wimbledon’s grass in July.
Each Sinner, who had gained his previous 27 hard-court matches at majors, and Alcaraz provided glimpses of why they’re so good, though it was uncommon that each had been at their greatest concurrently on this event.
Alcaraz was elite within the first, third and fourth units, Sinner’s prime efforts arrived within the second.
In sum, Alcaraz was higher and for longer, ending up with twice as many winners, 42-21.
For the reason that begin of the 2024 U.S. Open, Sinner had gained 33 of 34 matches on the majors and Sunday was his fifth straight last at these occasions. The loss? To Alcaraz at Roland-Garros.
Certainly, over the past two seasons, Sinner is now 1-7 in opposition to Alcaraz and 109-4 in opposition to everybody else.
Lone defeat
Alcaraz, in the meantime, has gained 37 of 38 contests since Could. The loss? To Sinner on the All England Membership — additionally Alcaraz’s lone defeat in a Slam last.
In 2025, Alcaraz now has extra match titles (a tour-leading seven) than losses (his file is 61-6, additionally the perfect in males’s tennis).
Throughout his defeat in Wimbledon’s last, Alcaraz was caught by a digital camera telling his staff about Sinner in Spanish: “From the again of the courtroom, he’s significantly better than me.”
So maybe that’s why Alcaraz was aggressive Sunday along with his sledgehammer of a forehand — and on-target, too. At any time when even the smallest opening offered itself, Alcaraz tried to barge on by means of with that shot, going massive early in factors, which labored, both for an outright winner or forcing errors from Sinner.
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Sinner had dropped a complete of only one service recreation in his three matches main into the ultimate, however he did cope with an belly muscle subject in his semifinal Friday. Sinner and his coach mentioned it was nothing severe, which is likely to be proper, however Alcaraz broke immediately Sunday and 5 instances in all.
To counteract the forehand effectiveness, Sinner made a tactical swap, going more and more after Alcaraz’s backhand when potential. That each restricted Alcaraz’s alternatives to strike a point-ending forehand and drew extra errors off the opposite wing.
Paid off for Sinner. Briefly.
Within the first set and third, Alcaraz’s ratios had been 11 winners to 2 unforced errors. Really outstanding. Within the second, these numbers swung the opposite method: 5 winners, 11 unforced errors.
An hour and 20 minutes in, it was a set apiece, after Alcaraz ceded one for the primary time all match, permitting Neale Fraser to retain his distinction as the newest man to win each set he performed on the occasion — all the way in which again in 1960.
As Sinner labored his method into issues, he would rejoice nearly each level he gathered by wanting on the nook of the stands the place his two coaches and others, together with Olympic champion ski racer Lindsey Vonn, had been seated and pumped his proper fist.
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Ah, nevertheless it was Alcaraz who appeared to have extra of the ticket-buyers on his aspect.
