Carlos Alcaraz after winning the Indian Wells Tournament.Photo/Guardian UK.
Spanish teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz breezed past Daniil Medvedev to win the Indian Wells title and return as world number one.
19-year-old Alcaraz, needed only one hour 11 minutes to seal a 6-3 6-2 win that took him above Novak Djokovic at the top of the ATP rankings.
It is the US Open champion’s third career Masters 1,000 title.
Novak Djokovic was forced to withdraw from the tournament in California because of his Covid-19 vaccination status.
He will also miss this week’s Miami Open, where Alcaraz is the defending champion.
Alcaraz is the only second player after compatriot Rafael Nadal to win at least three Masters 1,000 titles as a teenager.
He lost the world number one spot in January after Djokovic’s triumph at the Australian Open, which Alcaraz missed because of injury.
He returned to action in February, winning the Argentina Open and reaching the final of the Rio Open.
Alcaraz must successfully defend his Miami Open title in order to stay at the top of the rankings.
While defeat to Medvedev is his first in 19 matches, having come into the tournament on the back of successive wins in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai.
Nadal has now dropped out of the world’s top 10 for the first time since April 2005 a run which stretches to 912 consecutive weeks.
Writing by Tersoo Nicholas