By Chris Oddo | Monday August 18, 2025
Carlos Alcaraz claimed the 14th edition of the iconic Sinner v Alcaraz rivalry, but not the way he wanted. The Spaniard won 5-0 RET. when the Italian bowed out due to illness after trying to give it a go in Monday’s highly anticipated final.
“I’m super, super sorry to disappoint you,” Sinner said to the fans. “From yesterday I didn’t feel great. I thought that I would improve during the night, but it came up worse. I tried to come out, tried to make it at least a small match, but I couldn’t handle more, so I’m very sorry.”
Defending champion Sinner, who saw his 26-match hard court winning streak come to an end, was laboring from the start and dropped his first seven points on serve, falling behind by a double-break and headed to his chair to plop an ice pack right on the crown of his head.
Avoiding long rallies in the games that he did manage to play, Sinner went big early and paid for his aggression in the form of unforced errors. They piled up, as did games for Alcaraz. When Alcaraz hit a drop shot with Sinner serving at 0-4, 15-30, the Italian just walked to the other side of the court and got ready to serve the next point.
Two points later, after he double-faulted to hand Alcaraz a triple-break 5-0 lead, the trainer was summoned.
That would be the end of it.
Sinner shook hands with Alcaraz, who later came over to console him in an anti-climactic scene. The rivals have given fans so much in their 13 previous meetings, it felt strange to have one of their meetings end in such a manner.
Alcaraz claims his 22nd ATP title, and will be the No.1 in the ATP live rankings once last year’s US Open rankings points drop off. He leads the ATP in titles in 2025 with six, wins with 54 and Masters 1000 titles with three.
More to follow…
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