Jannik Sinner Vs Carlos Alcaraz Highlights, Italian Open Final: Spaniard Wins Tour-Leading Third Title Of Season

Greetings and a warm welcome to everyone joining us. We are minutes away from the start of the much-awaited men's singles final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, and will bring you the build-up and live updates from the match.

To be sure, the men's singles final is slated to begin at 8:30pm IST. It will be live streamed on the SonyLiv app and website in India and telecast on the Sony Sport Network TV channels in the country.

Sinner and Alcaraz should have been out on court by now, but there is a slight delay due to a hard-fought men's doubles final, that went right down to the wire. Mate Pavic and Sadio Doumbia eventually prevailed over Marcelo Arevalo and Fabien Reboul with a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 13-11 scoreline.

After an impassioned rendition of the Italian national anthem that gets the crowd going, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are welcomed onto the court. There is no doubt about who holds the spectator sway, the loud cheers for the numero uno bearing evidence, even as he is described as the biggest current face in Italian sport on air.

The customary pre-match knocking is now on, and play will begin in less than a minute's time. Sinner to serve first.

The match begins, and despite a double fault at 40-15, Sinner holds serve with relative ease, first up.

Carlos Alcaraz is taken to deuce in his first service game, but eventually holds amid loud cheering for Sinner. The first set stands at 1-1.

The players finally beginning to get their range with groundstrokes, and we are seeing relatively longer rallies. Sinner holds his service amid some resistance from Alcaraz, and we are 2-1 on serve in the first set after three games.

Once again, Alcaraz is challenged on serve, and after another round of deuce, the Spaniard eventually holds. This is getting riveting. We are 2-2 on serve.

It is Alcaraz's turn to test Sinner's serve now. The Spaniard garners the first break point of the final, but the world number one finds a way out in the crunch moment and holds on. We are still on serve after five games in the first set.

A number of delectable slices and drop shots ensue in Game 6, which Alcaraz wins on serve. He then makes Sinner work again in the latter's service game, and after conceding another break point, the numero uno player wriggles out again to hold. 4-3 on serve in first set.

The tussle to break serve continues. We are at 6-5 now, and Alcaraz is now serving to stay in the first set.

What a topsy-turvy Game 12 that was! Sinner had several opportunities to close out the set but Alcaraz showed his champion mentality and came out clutch repeatedly, staving off three set points to take the first set into a tie-break.

Sinner blinks first, and it's Alcaraz who comes up trumps in the first set tie-break by a 7-5 margin and takes the vital lead. The Spaniard is half-way through to the title, with this being a best-of-three encounter.

Alcaraz has picked up from where he left the first tie-break. He is charged up and has begun the second set buoyantly, breaking Sinner's serve straightaway to take an early 2-0 lead. He is four games away from clinching the title.

Alcaraz's dominance continues. He puts the Sinner serve under huge pressure again and the Italian has no answers as of now. Alcaraz leads 4-0 in the second set, primed to clinch the title barring a remarkable fightback from the home favourite.

And that's that! The world number three wins the second set 6-1 to claim a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory in the final. Sinner began well but lost steam in the face of Alcaraz's relentless attack and the Spaniard complete the clay court set of ATP Masters 1000 titles.

With this victory, Alcaraz has snapped Sinner's incredible 26-match winning streak. He has also claimed his 19th tour-level trophy, tying Sinner for the most among players born in the 2000s. This is the Spaniard's seventh ATP Masters 1000 title and he now has four straight wins over Sinner, with the Italian last winning in 2023 against him.