LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz will return to world number one after beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first title on grass at Queen’s Club.
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.
Alcaraz was playing on the grass for just the third tournament of his career.
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 next month.
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 number six Holger Rune on his 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 number 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 world number one the title.
