Carlos Alcaraz wins second Indian Wells title with victory against Daniil Medvedev

Carlos Alcaraz won his first trophy since Wimbledon last year as he successfully defended his Indian Wells title against Daniil Medvedev.

In a repeat of last year’s final, Alcaraz triumphed 7-6(5) 6-1 in California on Sunday, recovering from an early 3-0 deficit in the opening set to win the 13th ATP Tour title of his young career.

The 20-year-old Spaniard is also the first person to win back-to-back Indian Wells titles since Novak Djokovic in 2016.

“I think this year it’s a little bit more special for me because before the tournament I was thinking about if I’m going to play my best or not,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.

“I was not feeling well with my ankle. Weeks before the tournament I was hitting for 30 minutes with no movement. It was a lot of doubts for me but really happy to be able to overcome the problems.”

This was Alcaraz’s first ATP Tour title since winning Wimbledon last year.

That’s not to say the tournament itself wasn’t without challenges for Alcaraz. His quarterfinal against Alexander Zverev was affected by a swarm of bees and he then had to come from a set down against Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.

The Spaniard faced more adversity when Medvedev broke him in his first service game of the final, but Alcaraz hit back with a break of his own before edging his Russian opponent in a tie-break which at one point was locked at 5-5.

The second set was more straight forward for Alcaraz as he broke Medvedev twice – at 1-0 and 4-1 – before completing the victory in an hour and 42 minutes when the world No. 4 sent a cross-court forehand wide.

The 20-year-old Alcaraz ended the match with 23 winners – 19 of which were on his forehand side – compared to Medvedev’s 11 and won 73% of his service points to the Russian’s 56%.

Alcaraz now joins compatriot Rafael Nadal as the second male player to win five Masters 1,000 tournaments before the age of 21.

Medvedev reaches for a volley against Alcaraz.

Earlier on Sunday, Iga Świątek also won her second Indian Wells title as she defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4 6-0.

The Polish World No. 1, who also beat Sakkari in the final two years ago, didn’t drop a set over the course of the tournament and needed just 68 minutes to wrap up the title, winning eight games in a row across the first and second sets.

It marked the 19^th WTA Tour title of Świątek’s career and her second this year after winning the Qatar Open last month.