World quantity two Carlos Alcaraz defended his Indian Wells title with a straight-set win over Daniil Medvedev in a repeat of final yr’s last.
Alcaraz, 20, beat the Russian world quantity 4 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to say his first title since Wimbledon in July.
The Spaniard was coming back from an ankle harm which pressured him to retire from his opening match on the Rio Open final month.
“I really like enjoying right here – it is so particular for me,” Alcaraz informed Sky Sports activities.
“This yr is a little more particular as a result of earlier than the event I used to be eager about whether or not I used to be going to play my greatest or not. I wasn’t feeling my greatest with my ankle harm.
“There have been quite a lot of doubts however I am actually comfortable to beat the issues. We did actually good work off the court docket to attempt to get better as greatest I can.”
Alcaraz, who was stung on his brow as a swarm of bees pressured a delay in his quarter-final win over Alexander Zverev, recovered from 3-0 down in opposition to Medvedev to power a tie-break and clinch the primary set.
He breezed by means of the second, breaking serve twice to safe his thirteenth profession title and grow to be the primary repeat winner at Indian Wells since Novak Djokovic gained three straight titles from 2014 to 2016.
“I had quite a lot of nerves. It was troublesome to start out, however I began to play higher,” Alcaraz stated. “I calmed myself and managed my feelings.”
