Hyderabad:

The world no. 2 Alcaraz produced an exceptional outing showcasing immense resilience, grit and stamina to beat Sinner 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-2) in the longest final of the French Open history. Both tennis professionals fought toe-to-toe, but the scoreline separated the two world-class athletes in the first-ever Grand Slam final between players born in the 2000s, as per ATP's official website.

In an historic night at the iconic Roland Garros, yet another Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his French Open title by snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat on Sunday, June 9. After going two sets down, Alcaraz made a memorable comeback against world no. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy to continue Spain's unwavering dominance on clay court. With this historic win, the world no. 2 Alcaraz joined the elite company of successful French Open title defenders of this century, Gustavo Kuerten and Rafael Nadal.

Having never battled in a major tournament final, the clash lived up to hype in every sense. In the fifth and deciding set, defeat looked certain for Alcaraz, down at 3-5. But he regrouped himself, taking the score line to 5-4 and then to a fifth-set tie-break, making it the first-ever French Open final decided by a fifth-set tie-break.

With the deafening roar of Court Philippe-Chatrier echoing into the Paris night, the 22-year-old showed his resolve once more in the final set. After failing to serve out the match at 5-4, Alcaraz regrouped for one final push. After the winner, Alcaraz collapsed to the ground out of tiredness and astonishment, before hugging Sinner. The 22-year-old also holds a brilliant 13-1 fifth-set record.

On the other hand, Sinner has a forgettable record of 6-10 in fifth sets. He has never won a match going beyond three hours and 50 minutes (7 losses).

This is Alcaraz's tour-leading 37th win in the season and improves his head-to-head record against Sinner, who won the Australian Open earlier this year, to 8-4, having won previous five matches. This is his fifth Grand Slam title and he is the third-youngest to reach the five-major mark, behind Bjorn Borg in 1978 (22 years, 5 days) and Rafael Nadal (22 years, 34 days old).

Alcaraz was high on form with title wins in Monte Carlo and Rome as he headed to Paris. This victory is also his 20th tour-level title, making him the first 2000s born player to achieve the milestone.

Sinner, who wanted his second title of the season and 20th overall, aimed to become the fifth man in Open Era to win three successive major titles. This is his first-ever major final loss, which sinks his once flawless record to 3-1. Despite his loss, Sinner can walk out of the court with his ATP number one ranking intact with a lead of 2,030 points.

Sinner collected 31 consecutive set wins before losing to Alcaraz in the third set of their pulsating clash since his last set loss coming in the quarterfinal of the victorious Australian Open 2025. Only Federer (36), Rafael Nadal (35) and John McEnroe (35) have won more consecutive Grand Slam sets in the Open Era.

Read More :

Bizarre Run-out In MPL 2025! Stumps Shattered At One End, But Batter Dismissed At Other