ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -World number three Carlos Alcaraz claimed his first indoor title when he beat Australian third seed Alex de Minaur 6-4 3-6 6-2 in the Rotterdam Open final on Sunday.
The four-times Grand Slam winner, who began the 2025 season with a quarter-final defeat by Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, won his 17th ATP Tour career title, his first indoor.
It was the Spaniard’s first title since winning in Beijing in October as he again wore a nasal strip having suffered with a cold all week. He also became the youngest man in history to win a title on clay, grass, hard court, and indoor hard court.
The Spanish top seed broke De Minaur in the third game of the ATP 500 tournament showpiece clash, before losing serve himself as the opening was levelled at 4-4. Alcaraz, however, broke in the next game and then took the first set.
De Minaur powered to a 3-0 lead in the second, which went with serve until the Australian levelled the match.
Alcaraz, pushed into a decider for the third time this week, took control when he broke for a 4-2 lead and proved ruthless as he took the title on his debut event in Rotterdam.
“It has been a really good week,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
“Coming here with, let’s say not feeling 100% well with the cold, every day I felt better and better thanks to (my team). All the people back home as well, I just want to say thank you.
“I’m not a guy who says this many times, but I really want to tell you … I love you guys,” he added, referring to his team. “Thank you for everything you’re doing for me.”
Alcaraz, 21, is the first Spaniard to win in Rotterdam, after his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero (2004) and Rafael Nadal (2009) lost their respective finals.
He also became the first Rotterdam champion to win the title on his tournament debut since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
The Spaniard beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 in the semi-finals on Saturday when last year’s runner-up De Minaur dismantled Italian Mattia Bellucci 6-1 6-2 to reach the final.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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