Carlos Alcaraz reaffirmed his dominance over Jannik Sinner with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 triumph on Sunday in the U.S. Open final. This victory marked the third consecutive Grand Slam event where these young top-tier competitors clashed for the title. It also secured Alcaraz’s second trophy at Flushing Meadows and his sixth major overall.
In Arthur Ashe Stadium, former President Donald Trump made an appearance in a sponsor’s suite and was met with a mix of applause and jeers from the crowd. His presence delayed the match’s start by about half an hour as several fans were still queuing outside, navigating through heightened security due to having a sitting president attend the tournament for the first time since Bill Clinton in 2000.
The delay might have unsettled No. 1 seed Sinner, who entered as the defending champion. Under the closed roof, which was shut due to earlier rain, No. 2 seed Alcaraz started strong, looking to overturn his recent defeat against Sinner at the All England Club.
Alcaraz accomplished that mission, advancing his head-to-head record with Sinner to 10-5, acquiring a 6-4 advantage in major victories, and leading 2-1 in U.S. Open championships. The win also allowed the 22-year-old Spaniard to reclaim the No. 1 ranking from the 24-year-old Italian.
These two guys are so, so much better than the rest of men’s tennis at the moment.
Together, they have seized the last eight consecutive Slam titles, and 10 out of the 13, with Novak Djokovic, whom Alcaraz ousted in the semifinals on Friday, winning the remaining three during this period.
The final marked a historic moment in tennis as it was the first time two players competed against each other in three consecutive Grand Slam finals within a single season.
This hard-court matchup followed Alcaraz’s victory over Sinner after erasing a trio of match points on the French Open’s red clay in June, and Sinner’s victory over Alcaraz on Wimbledon’s grass in July.
Both Sinner, who had won his past 27 hard-court matches at majors, and Alcaraz offered glimpses of why they are so good, although it was rare that both were at their best simultaneously on this occasion.
Alcaraz was elite in the first, third and fourth sets, Sinner’s top efforts arrived in the second.
In sum, Alcaraz was better and for longer, ending up with twice as many winners, 42-21.
Since the start of the 2024 U.S. Open, Sinner had won 33 of 34 matches at the majors and Sunday was his fifth straight final at those events. The loss? To Alcaraz at Roland-Garros.
Indeed, over the last two seasons, Sinner is now 1-7 against Alcaraz and 109-4 against everyone else.
Alcaraz, meanwhile, has won 37 of 38 contests since May. The loss? To Sinner at the All England Club – also Alcaraz’s lone defeat in a Slam final.
In 2025, Alcaraz now has more tournament titles (a tour-leading seven) than losses (his record is 61-6, also the best in men’s tennis).
During his defeat in Wimbledon’s final, Alcaraz was caught by a camera telling his team about Sinner in Spanish: “From the back of the court, he’s much better than me.”
So perhaps that’s why Alcaraz was aggressive Sunday with his sledgehammer of a forehand – and on-target, too. Whenever even the smallest opening presented itself, Alcaraz tried to barge on through with that shot, going big early in points, which worked, either for an outright winner or forcing mistakes from Sinner.
Sinner had dropped a total of just one service game in his three matches leading into the final, but he did deal with an abdominal muscle issue in his semifinal Friday. Sinner and his coach said it was nothing serious, which might be right, but Alcaraz broke right away Sunday and five times in all.
To counteract the forehand effectiveness, Sinner made a tactical switch, going increasingly after Alcaraz’s backhand when possible. That both limited Alcaraz’s opportunities to strike a point-ending forehand and drew additional mistakes off the other wing.
Paid off for Sinner. Briefly.
In the first set and third, Alcaraz’s ratios were 11 winners to two unforced errors. Truly remarkable. In the second, those numbers swung the other way: five winners, 11 unforced errors.
An hour and 20 minutes in, it was a set apiece, after Alcaraz ceded one for the first time all tournament, allowing Neale Fraser to retain his distinction as the most recent man to win every set he played at the event – all the way back in 1960.
As Sinner worked his way into things, he would celebrate just about every point he gathered by looking at the corner of the stands where his two coaches and others, including Olympic champion ski racer Lindsey Vonn, were seated and pumped his right fist.
Ah, but it was Alcaraz who seemed to have more of the ticket-buyers on his side.
Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
