Indian Wells Masters: 19-year-old Alcarez won the title, again became the world’s number-1 player; defeated Medvedev

Carlos Alcarez won the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells Masters) title by defeating Daniil Medvedev of Russia in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Alcarez also regained the world number one ranking. Spain’s 19-year-old Alcarez has moved from second to first in the ATP rankings. He has replaced Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who could not enter the US due to lack of Kovid-19 vaccination. He had withdrawn his name before the tournament. With this defeat, Medvedev’s 19-match winning streak was also broken.

Carlos after Federer
Last year, Alcarez became the youngest player in ATP history to reach the number one ranking after winning the US Open. He became only the second player after Roger Federer in 2017 to win the BNP Paribas Open without dropping a set. Also became the youngest player to win this tournament. Alcarez hit 19 winners and made 10 unforced errors. He didn’t give Medvedev a single break point. He took a 3-0 lead in the first set and a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Rybkina’s first title win over Sabalenka
In the women’s singles final, Elena Rybkina defeated world number two Aryna Sabalenka 7–6, 6–4. This is Sabalenka’s second defeat this year. It was the first time in a fierce rivalry between the two players that the match did not go past three sets. Tenth seed Rybkina hit seven aces while second seed Sabalenka committed 10 double faults.

Sabalenka said that she was very disappointed with her service. Taking a lesson from such a defeat, I will do better in the future. During the award ceremony, Wimbledon champion Rybkina said, “I beat Sabalenka for the first time. This time Sabalenka took the mic from him and said, I will make sure this is the last time.