For the fifth time, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz has won a Grand Slam championship. The 22-year-old native and world number two beat Italy’s Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. This was the first time that the top two current players in the world played against each other in a grand slam final, and it did not disappoint as Alcaraz won a match for the ages.
It appeared Sinner was in control during the fourth set. He had three championship points, with Alcaraz serving at 5-3, 0-40. However, Alcaraz found a way not only to hold serve, but break Sinner back on Sinner’s service game.
Alcaraz won the match despite the fact Sinner won more points. Sinner won 193 points, while Alcaraz won 192.
This was the second longest grand slam final of all-time. The match lasted five hours and 29 minutes. The longest grand slam final came at the 2012 Australian Open final. Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Rafael Nadal of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in five hours and 53 minutes.
Alcaraz became the ninth player to come back two sets to love down to win a grand slam final in the Open Era. This was the first time in Alcaraz’s career he lost the first two sets and won the match.
Over the weekend, the number two seed beat the number one seed in both grand slam finals. On the women’s side, Coco Gauff of the United States beat Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. This was the first time since 1984 that the number one seed played the number two seed in the men’s and women’s final of the French Open. In 1984, second ranked Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia beat the number one seed, John McEnroe of the United States, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5; and first ranked Martina Navratilova beat second ranked Chris Evert 6-3, 6-1 in an all American battle. Alcaraz’s prior grand slam titles came at the 2022 United States Open, 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon, and 2024 French Open.
