Carlos Alcaraz wins Queen's, returns to world No. 1

LONDON – Carlos Alcaraz will return to world No. 1 after beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first title on grass at Queen’s Club.

He said his ranking would give him a boost but not change his chances at Wimbledon in July.

The Spaniard’s fifth title of the season moves him back ahead of 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic at the top of the rankings, and he said: “The chances don’t change so much. I mean, Novak is coming to Wimbledon.

“Right now I’m feeling better than the beginning of the week, that’s obvious. Recovering the No. 1 before Wimbledon, it gives you extra motivation, it gives you extra confidence.

“But it doesn’t change too much if I play Wimbledon as the No. 2 or the No. 1.”

Alcaraz was playing on grass for just the third tournament of his career.

He said: “Being able to win this amazing tournament in my first time that I played here is fantastic.

“To know that I’m (capable of) a good level on grass, obviously (to be) champion of every tournament feels special.”

The 20-year-old has failed to get past the fourth round in two previous attempts at Wimbledon, but his impressive showing suggests he will be the biggest threat to Djokovic securing an eighth title at the All England Club.

After battling past French lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech in the first round, Alcaraz did not drop a set in his final four matches at Queen’s.

De Minaur had dumped out Andy Murray and world No. 6 Holger Rune en route to the final.

But the Australian was left to rue Alcaraz’s ability to win the big points in a tight contest.

De Minaur had two break points for the chance to serve for the first set when he led 4-3.

Alcaraz responded, though, to hold serve and immediately break the world No. 18 in the next game before serving out for the set.

The US Open champion needed lengthy treatment between the two sets as he had strapping applied to his right quad.

However, Alcaraz’s movement did not seem affected as he again pounced with his only break point to move ahead 3-2 in the second set.

Two rare errors gave de Minaur some hope in the final game as Alcaraz found himself 0-30 down. But his booming serve dug him out of trouble as four straight points secured the new No. 1 the title.

There was a shock in the other men’s final on Sunday as Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik defeated the seventh-ranked Andrey Rublev in three sets for his biggest title at the Halle Open.

Bublik won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the final in Germany.

“This means the world to me, I’ve been struggling for a year and a half now. It was hard work,” he said of his 95-minute triumph.

The 48th-ranked Bublik faced a difficult path to the final, making his way past Borna Coric, Jan-Lennard Struff and Jannik Sinner, before downing home favourite Alexander Zverev in the last four.

“I was walking through the little hall of fame here before entering the court for the very first time,” recounted the 26-year-old.

“I was like ‘wow, the different names’, a lot of guys I’m familiar with. But I could not even imagine I would win this tournament. I’m really, really happy.”

In the first of two women’s finals on Sunday, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko won the clash of former French Open champions, downing the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 at the Birmingham Open.

Krejcikova had sailed into the final without dropping a set and will return to the world’s top 10 on Monday. However, it was 17th-ranked Ostapenko who claimed her first title of the season.

“I played five great matches, this was the only match in two sets thankfully because every match was really tough,” said Ostapenko. “It’s a great preparation for Wimbledon.”

Later, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Donna Vekic 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) in the German Open final. AFP, REUTERS