Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz continued their tussle for the world primary spot as they opened their clay-court seasons with commanding second-round wins on the Monte Carlo Masters.
Contemporary from finishing the ‘Sunshine Double’ with out dropping a set, Sinner wanted solely 64 minutes to finish a 6-3 6-0 demolition of Frenchman Ugo Humbert – conceding simply six factors within the second set.
It was an 18th successive Masters 1000 win for the Italian second seed, who has now received 36 consecutive units at that stage.
If Sinner goes all the way in which and wins in Monaco he’ll substitute Alcaraz because the world primary when the rankings are up to date on Monday.
Alcaraz, the defending champion, opened his clay-court season with a 6-1 6-3 victory in 70 minutes towards Argentina’s Sebastian Baez – a six-time ATP Tour champion on clay – afterward Tuesday.
It was the Spaniard’s first match on clay since he triumphed over Sinner in final yr’s enthralling French Open ultimate, when he got here again from two units down and saved three Championship factors en path to his second Roland Garros title.
Alcaraz, who had a 22-1 document on clay and received three titles on the floor in 2025, has held the primary spot since November.
“I will lose primary on this planet. I do not know if it will be at this event or the subsequent one,” mentioned Alcaraz.
“I am defending a bunch of factors which are going to be actually troublesome to defend. Even when I defend them, Jannik goes so as to add some factors.
“I’ll simply attempt to play my greatest and let’s have a look at what occurs, however for me the primary spot is just not in my thoughts proper now. I am simply making an attempt to really feel one of the simplest ways on clay courts and let’s have a look at how the clay swing goes.”
The hole between the pair is right down to 1,190 factors because the season strikes on to the European clay-court swing.
Sinner has no rating factors to defend till the Italian Open at first of Could as a result of he was serving a three-month suspension this time final yr for failing two doping assessments.
He might want to attain at the least the semi-finals after which higher Alcaraz’s lead to Monte Carlo if he’s to swap rating locations with the seven-time main winner.
Sinner will face Argentine Francisco Cerundolo within the subsequent spherical, whereas Alcaraz will play both Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina or France’s Terence Atmane.
