By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Carlos Alcaraz weathered Lorenzo Musetti’s early storm and completed the come-from-behind victory- 3.6, 6.1, 6.0- to bag his first-ever Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters championship title on April 13, 2025.
After an error-plagued first-set performance that allowed Musetti to steal away the momentum en route to a convincing beat down in the opener, the 21-year-old Spanish sensation bounced back in the most perfect time and took control of the last two frames.
It wasn’t the favorable start that Alcaraz wanted in a grand finals match as his down-the-line forehands just kept on missing in the wide angles.
What was worse was that the youngster kept on repeating the same offensive stroke, resulting in a piled-up unforced error tally midway through the first set.
Musetti, who was steamrolling in the match after scoring an early break point twice, wrapped up the first set with a serve-and-volley technique to hold a 1-0 lead.
Just when the world no. 13 challenger thought that he could maintain his pace, Alcaraz quickly turned things around in the second set and pummeled Musetti with his baseline power groundstrokes.
Finally, after a full set, Alcaraz gauged his perfect distance and amount of spin that set up his down-the-line bombs. From being defensive, the four-time Grand Slam winner turned into a wrecking machine in the second period.
Alcaraz snatched the momentum after breaking Musetti two times in a row and took over the match after scoring a ridiculous turn-around backhand winner from a weird angle in the no man’s land.
The thousands of fans then stood to their feet and gave Alcaraz a long standing ovation, with the young ace from Spain accepting the flowers while waving his racket sideways.
Despite Musetti’s powerful service game, Alcaraz just couldn’t be stopped and iced the game with another masterful two-way outing to cap off his first championship in Monte Carlo with a 6-0 victory in the last set.
” I am really happy to win Monte-Carlo for the first time. It has been a really difficult week with a lot of difficult situations. I am proud with how I dealt with everything. It has been a difficult month for me, so coming here and seeing the hard work pay off makes me happy,” said Alcaraz after winning the title.
