Continuing his dominant run, Carlos Alcaraz won his maiden Indian Wells title with an easy 6-3, 6-2 win over Daniil Medvedev in the final, here.
The 19-year-old Spaniard, who did not lose a set in six Indian Wells matches, will return to World No. 1 in Monday’s ATP Rankings behind his trophy triumph.
Now a three-time ATP Masters 1000 champion as the reigning titlist in Miami and Madrid, Alcaraz is the ninth and youngest man to win both legs of the Sunshine Double — Indian Wells and Miami — in his career. He joins countryman Rafael Nadal as the only players to win at least three Masters 1000 titles as a teenager, with Nadal having won six before turning 20.
On the other hand, Medvedev saw his 19-match and three-tournament winning streak come to a close.
Alcaraz and Medvedev did not meet in 2022 despite both men debuting as World No. 1 and spending 16 weeks atop the ATP Rankings during the year. Their lone previous ATP Head to Head meeting came at Wimbledon in 2021, when Medvedev cruised to a straight-sets win.
By turning the tables for a straight-sets win of his own on Sunday, Alcaraz became the first Indian Wells champion to claim the title without losing a set since Roger Federer in 2017, and the first to do so in at least six matches since Nadal in 2007.
With his final victory, he improves to 8-3 in tour-level finals, including 3-0 at ATP Masters 1000, and 14-9 overall against Top 10 opponents.
Medvedev, who was at No. 12 in the ATP Rankings as recently as 12 February, will re-enter the Top 5 on Monday after he backed up consecutive titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai with his Indian Wells final run.
Rybakina tops Sabalenka to clinch title
Elena Rybakina won her first title of the season, and the first WTA 1000 title of her career by defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells Masters finals.
In a reversal of this year’s Australian Open championship match, the No.10 seed Rybakina defeated No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(11), 6-4 in the summit clash on Sunday, triumphing at the first event of 2023’s Sunshine Double.
With this, Rybakina picked up her fourth career WTA singles title. It is her first title since her breakthrough Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon last summer.
Rybakina has now won her past four matches versus Top 2-ranked opponents. She beat then-No.2 Ons Jabeur in the 2022 Wimbledon final and defeated World No.1 Iga Swiatek two times this season, in the Australian Open Round of 16 and the Indian Wells semifinals this week.
Rybakina had already shown strong form in the semifinals with a straight-sets dismissal of Swiatek.
Rybakina is projected to rise from her current career-high ranking of No.10 to a new career-high of World No.7 in Monday’s updated singles rankings. Sabalenka will remain at World No.2.
