Clay court Prince Carlos Alcaraz rallies to claim Monte Carlos Masters title

It is Alcaraz's second title of 2025, following his victory at the Rotterdam Open back in February, and is his first Masters 1000 title since winning in Indian Wells back in March 2024.

"This is not the way that I would have wanted to win a match," reflected Alcaraz.

"Thinking about Lorenzo, I think he's had a really tough week, really long and intense matches, so I just feel really sorry for him to end [like this].

"One of the best results he has done and ending like this, it's not easy, so I just wanted to say hopefully it's nothing serious and hopefully he's going to be 100% really soon.

"I'm just really happy to have won Monte Carlo for the first time. It's been a really difficult week with a lot of difficult situations that I'm really proud of myself, how I dealt with everything.

"It's been a really difficult month for me outside and on the court, so coming here and seeing how the hard work paid off, I'm really happy."

Victory for Alcaraz has significant rankings implications right at the very top of the sport, with the Spaniard now set to overtake Alexander Zverev as the world No 2.

The 21-year-old will move to 7,720 ranking points on Monday, with Zverev - who was beaten in round two - dropping to 7,595 points.

Alcaraz has also closed the gap to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, earning a full 1,000 ranking points in Monte Carlo after missing the event 12 months ago.

Sinner will drop 400 semi-final points after missing Monte Carlo due to his ongoing suspension, though the Italian will still hold 9,930 points on Monday - a cushion of 2,210 points over Alcaraz.

All eyes will now be on whether Alcaraz can close the gap towards Sinner, and hold off Zverev as the world No. 2.

Both Alcaraz and Zverev are in action on home soil this coming week, with the Spaniard competing at the ATP 500 Barcelona Open, and German Zverev competing at the ATP 500 Munich Open.

Two-time Barcelona champion Alcaraz has no points to defend after missing the event in 2024, while Zverev has 50 quarter-finalist points to defend in Munich.

Both men will also be in action at the Masters 1000 event in Madrid before Sinner returns next month.

Despite defeat, there is also good news for Musetti from an ATP Rankings perspective.

A run to a first Masters 1000 final will see the Italian dramatically eclipse his previous career-high of world No 15, with the 23-year-old set to be ranked 11th come Monday.

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