Alcaraz comes back to beat world no. 1 Sinner to win first China Open title

Carlos Alcaraz won seven straight points in the decisive tiebreaker to beat top-ranked Jannik Sinner 6-7(6) 6-4 7-6(3) and win the men's singles final at the China Open on Wednesday, claiming another victory over his biggest rival, who is dealing with an ongoing doping case.

Sinner and Alcaraz have competed against each other in all four Grand Slam titles this year — both with two victories each: Sinner won the Australian Open and the U.S. Open while Alcaraz won the French Open and Wimbledon.

The two formed a tiebreaker in the first set, and world No.1 Sinner took it 8-6 as Alcaraz's returned lands outside court.

Paris Olympics men's singles silver medalist Alcaraz fought back to win the second set 6-4 as Sinner's return hit the net.

Trailing from behind 5-4, Alcaraz took the point on his own serve with this tricky forehand winner near the net.

The two reached another tiebreaker, and four-time Grand Slam Champion Alcaraz's forehand winner near the net helped him to 3-2.

Alcaraz took five consecutive points to grab a championship point, and the Spaniard finally took the match with a powerful forehand winner.

Third-ranked Alcaraz has now won all three of his meetings with Sinner this year, having also come out on top in semi-finals at Indian Wells and the French Open. Alcaraz also ended Sinner's 14-match winning streak. He now becomes the first player to win ATP 500 events on all three surfaces.

"It was a really special win for me. Lifting this trophy in front of my team who are part of my family, it was a great, great moment for me. I guess he got emotional at the end because we all know what we went through, you know, the last month or the last two months. And it was a really difficult moment," said Alcaraz.

"On the court, off the court, as I said in the speech, thanks to them I started to get the joy back playing the matches, practicing, I got motivated again," he added.

"It's always nice to be part of these kind of matches. You know, I'm obviously disappointed that it didn't go my way. But, you know, these kinds of matches can really go both ways. But it was not my day. He played better in important moments and, you know, that's it. But I'm proud again of a great week making finals here, last year I won here. So it's for sure a place where I love to play and yeah so I'm already looking forward to next year," said Sinner.