Alcaraz, champion in Beijing after an epic final

In an epic final of three hours and 20 minutes, Carlos Alcaraz was crowned champion of the Beijing tournament this Wednesday by defeating the Italian Jannik Sinner in a grueling 6-7 (6), 6-4, and 7-6 (3), becoming the first tennis player to conquer an ATP 500 on three different surfaces: clay, grass, and hard court.

The Murcian, who ended up exhausted in his chair after the exhausting final, achieved his third victory of the year against Sinner, after the semifinals of Indian Wells and Roland Garros, and extends his lead in the rivalry. Alcaraz has already won six matches against Sinner while the Italian has won four.

The Beijing title is his sixteenth, the first on Chinese soil and also the first since winning the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic. Between the Davis Cup, the Laver Cup, and Beijing, Alcaraz has accumulated ten consecutive victories.

In the final that everyone expected and which marked the first clash since the Italian's double positive for doping, Alcaraz came out strong with a 5-2 lead that exposed Sinner's passivity, who had only connected seven winners in seven games. In the tenth game, when the Spaniard had to close out the set, Sinner changed his approach from passive to active and leveled.

The Italian was still not comfortable, and it was Alcaraz who had the set in hand, first in the twelfth game when two double faults from Sinner gave a squandered set point to the Murcian, and later in the 'tie break' when with 6-4 against him, Sinner hit an 'ace' and a nearly winning return to neutralize two more set points.

At that moment, it was Alcaraz who faltered with two long shots that gave the set to the Italian. Sinner, who had not lost a match since Wimbledon with a streak of 16 consecutive victories, had struck first, but there were still many twists left in the match.

Alcaraz was on the brink of defeat at 7-6 and 4-3 when he saved a 15-40 that practically gave Sinner the final. It took him 15 minutes to win that game for Spain's Alcaraz, who immediately broke his rival's serve and closed out the set.

After more than two hours, the final would be decided in the third set where, as usual, it was Alcaraz who took the lead. The Murcian had a 3-1 lead and two break points for 4-1, but Sinner held on and fought back to 4-4 after a horrible service game from Alcaraz.

At 5-5, Alcaraz again sensed defeat. He was two points away from losing and at 30-30 he played a cross-court backhand winner that gave him an extra life.

It was not an easy path; in fact, he had to level Sinner's initial 3-0 lead in the tie-break. He roared at the crowd when he regained his serve at 3-2 with an incredible point. At 4-3 he felt like Roger Federer as he approached the net to close out with a forehand winner for 5-3. A mistake from Sinner gave him a 6-3 lead and three championship points. This time he did not hesitate. With a total of 55 winners, Alcaraz claimed his fourth title of the year.

He remains 4,000 points behind the Italian in the race for number one but puts their rivalry even more in his favor and hasn't lost to him since last year's semifinals of this tournament. Now Alcaraz will have to decide whether to play in the Shanghai Masters 1000 that began on Wednesday where he defends last year's third-round appearance.