ATP Indian Wells: Carlos Alcaraz defeats Daniil Medvedev in the final and defends his Masters title

Daniil Medvedev, who entered the final 2-3 against Carlos Alcaraz, got off to a better start.

The Russian received the first serve from the defending champion and took a 2-0 lead.

Alcaraz, who struggled with right ankle problems in the lead-up to the Masters, needed little time to warm up. But then the 20-year-old responded with a break (2:3) and narrowly held the upper hand (7:5) in the first set tiebreak after 69 minutes.

The 20-year-old Spaniard, who had previously knocked out Olympic champion Alexander Zverev and Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, remained on the trigger. Alcaraz broke his opponent's serve early in the second set to take a 2-0 lead.

A feature he couldn't give up. On the contrary: after another break at 5:1, Alcaraz finished the final 1:42 hours after serving with the first match point in his favor.

“Carlos Alcaraz was fantastic. He was very strong that day. Medvedev gave everything he could and didn't play badly at all. He was at eye level for a long time,” former Davis Cup winner Patrick Kunin said on Sky.

This marked the end of an eight-month drought for Alcaraz. The title in Indian Wells is the first since winning the Wimbledon Championship last July.