MONTE CARLO — Carlos Alcaraz made the best possible start to his preparations for the defense of his French Open title, burning past the Italian Lorenzo Musetti in three sets on Sunday to win his first Monte Carlo Masters.

The 21-year-old Spaniard, already a four-time Grand Slam winner, dropped the opening set, but came back hard to take the next two at the cost of a single game, as he cleaned up 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

He was aided somewhat in the final set by an injury to Musetti.

It marks a sixth Masters title for Alcaraz, and is his most prestigious title since winning Wimbledon last year.

It was also his first win on clay since winning the French Open last season, although, in mitigation, he only had one tournament after that: when he missed out on gold at the Paris Olympics.

"I'm just really happy to have won Monte Carlo for the first time," said Alcaraz, who lost in his first match on his only previous appearance at the tournament in 2022.

"It's been a really difficult week with a lot of difficult situations.

"I'm really proud of myself, how I've dealt with everything. It's been a really difficult month for me on the court and off it.

"Coming here and seeing how all the hard work has paid off, I'm really happy."

Alcaraz chose not to expand on his difficulties, but they may be eased partly by this win, which will lift him to No 2 in the world rankings, ahead of Alexander Zverev, but still behind the suspended Jannik Sinner.

'Intense'

However, this was no easy win in chilly conditions against a man playing in his first Masters 1000 final after taking down two top 10 players, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur, to get there.

Musetti dropped his opening service, but broke back straight away and took the fight to Alcaraz who, in spite of the odd blissful winner, appeared at odds with his game, making six unforced errors.

The Spaniard bounced back, however, lifting his game as he galloped through the second set 6-1.

That trend continued, as Musetti began to have problems with his right leg, receiving treatment when he was 0-3 in the decider.

He battled on, but could not live with the intensity or physicality of Alcaraz's game.

"It is not the way I would have wanted to win a match," said Alcaraz afterward.

"Lorenzo's been through a really tough week, with long and intense matches.

"I feel sorry for him, one of the best results he has got. To end like this, it's not easy. Hopefully it's not serious and he's 100 percent soon."

Some consolation for Musetti is a rise to No 11 in the rankings and the promise of more to come on the clay as the season gets underway.

"It was probably one of my best tournaments so far," said Musetti who took bronze at last year's Olympics behind Alcaraz and gold medalist Novak Djokovic.

"I'm disappointed I couldn't finish the match in the best way for the crowd. You deserve it, so I will keep going and try and come back for revenge."

Both Alcaraz and Musetti will continue their clay court preparations at the Barcelona Open this week in the build-up to the French Open at the end of May.

AFP