Carlos Alcaraz had captured his second US Open title with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory, which detronized the world number one Jannik Sinner. The victory marks Alcaraz's sixth Grand Slam title at just 22 years old and propels him back to the world number one ranking, ending their remarkable 2025 season with the spoils evenly divided between tennis's new dominant duo.

The Champion's March: Alcaraz's Flawless Fortnight

Carlos Alcaraz's path to glory at Flushing Meadows was nothing short of spectacular. The Spanish sensation became the first man since Rafael Nadal in 2013 to reach the US Open semifinals without dropping serve more than once throughout the entire tournament. His serving statistics throughout the fortnight were otherworldly - losing just two service games on the road to final, and as it occured, just three in the whole campaign including the championship match.

The second seed's journey began with routine victories over lower-ranked opponents. The first real showcase of his complete arsenal came against Czech talent Jiri Lehecka, producing what he called "an almost perfect match" in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 demolition that featured 28 winners and zero break points faced.

The semifinals brought the marquee matchup everyone anticipated: Alcaraz versus Novak Djokovic, their ninth career meeting and first at the US Open. What transpired was less epic battle and more changing of the guard ceremony. Alcaraz dominated from the baseline, overpowering the 38-year-old Serbian with relentless groundstrokes and superior physicality. The 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory marked Alcaraz's first hardcourt win over Djokovic and extended his remarkable hot streak to 36 wins in his last 37 matches. His 60 match wins in 2025 lead the tour, as do his six titles - a testament to his extraordinary consistency at the highest level.

The Defending Champion's Quest

Jannik Sinner entered the final attempting to become the first man since Roger Federer (2004-2008) to successfully defend his US Open title. The Italian's path to the championship match was equally impressive, though ultimately fell just short of glory. Sinner's tournament began with surgical precision - he lost just 11 games combined in victories over Vit Kopriva and Alexei Popyrin, setting the tone for what would be a dominant fortnight until the final hurdle.

The world number one faced was already tested by two Canadian prodigees - Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger Aliassime. The first one put him into trouble, forcing Sinner to drop the first set in the tournament and chase the score from being down in third set to secure the victory in four parts. Auger-Aliassime was a competent rival in semifinals after making an upset over 3rd seed Alexander Zverev earlier on and showcasing great serving and mental attitude - however it was also just enough to take one set from the Italian. The fourth-round demolition of Alexander Bublik stands as one of the most lopsided victories in recent US Open history - a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 masterclass lasting just 81 minutes, the second-shortest completed men's match of the tournament. The three games dropped tied the fewest in a second-week match at Flushing Meadows since Novak Djokovic's 2015 semifinal destruction of Marin Cilic.

The Final Act

The final itself was a masterclass in aggressive baseline tennis from Alcaraz. After a 30-minute delay due to enhanced security for President Trump's attendance, the Spaniard came out firing on all cylinders. His first-set dominance set the tone - putting the immense pressure since the game one, breaking Sinner twice and facing on breakpoints, winning 83% of his first-serve points and as much as 86% on second serve. Alcaraz scored 11 winners to just 2 unforced errors, while Sinner noted a slow start with just 6 winners and 9 unforced errors.

Second set promised that this battle could end up with another monumental fight till the end of long five-setter. The roles have reversed a bit, although this set was the ugliest out of all four played that night. It was also a testament of the importance of second serve in this tie. Alcaraz dominated his opponent with extraordinary aformentioned 86% in first set but massively dropped to just 33% in second - the same rate as Sinner scored in first part of the match. 2-6 6-1 on the scoreline put this match into best of three since then, however first two sets were relatively quickly played,

The third one was no longer, as Alcaraz needed 30 minutes to come back into proper gears from first set and absolutely demolished Sinner with a flashy quick 6-1, hitting 11 winners including 5 aces and denying any early pressure points in own serving games. Sinner looked quite overwhelmed there, but fought not to lose the contact with his great possesed opponent in another set. He defended two breakpoints to make the crucial hold in first game, but it got just postponed since 5th game when Alcaraz moved into the break lead which had set him up on the one-way traffic for the title. When Sinner came back from two matchpoints down on Alcaraz's serve in 10th game, some of the fans could come back with memories to the overturn from the Roland Garros final between both, but it was not Sinner's day to perform it. Alcaraz utilized the third matchpoint to cross the finish line in the match which was a surprisingly dominant performance.

The Spaniard scored 41 winners to just 24 winners, while Sinner played way down to his standards (21-28). 34 pressure points produced on the Italian's serve in compare to just 9 faced on the own side was a pure statement. Alcaraz was untouchable in the whole tournament not just because of the weakness of lower-rated opponents earlier on. He was just unbeatable since the start till the end for no one, even for his biggest and possibly the only one competent rival at this level.

Ranking movements

Carlos Alcaraz comes back for the world number one spot after two years, leading the ATP Rankings for the last time in the last week of August 2023. It's very likely that he sits there also at the end of the season, having now 2590 points lead in ATP Race over Sinner, who was absent for a while during season due to his doping case repercussions. Felix Auger-Aliassime gains 14 places to move up into 13th due to his run into semifinals, while Novak Djokovic gains 3 places to move up into 4th for the same achievement. The Serbian is also the new #3 in ATP Race, with a marginal gap ahead of Alexander Zverev. Jiri Lehecka is the new top 20 player, reaching his career's highest 16th, Alexander Bublik also lifts up to top 20, moving up 5 places from 24th.

Lorenzo Musetti owes the good starting position before the final push into ATP Finals, moving up to 8th in the Race after his unexpectedly good run into quarterfinals. The pack of players fighting for the top 8 will be emerged in the Asian swing, however Musetti has 80 points gap over Jack Draper and 365 points over Auger-Aliassime. 11th ranked Andrey Rublev is already more than 650 points down, however it's still a room to gain hefty amount of points in the following events, including ATP Masters which starts in Shanghai at the end of September.