Stefanos Tsitsipas won the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 on Sunday for the second consecutive year by beating Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich (6-3, 7-6) in the final.
World No. 5, the Greek thus becomes at 23 the sixth player to retain his title in the first major clay-court tournament of the season, alongside Ilie Nastase (1971-1973), Björn Borg (1979-1980) , Thomas Muster (1995-1996), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2002-2003) and Rafael Nadal (2005-2012 and 2016-2018).
Taking advantage of countless unforced errors from Davidovich, obviously running out of energy after a grueling tournament in which he notably secured his greatest victory when he beat world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the second round, Tsitsipas seemed on track to go lift the trophy quickly and without shaking.
Tsitsipas keeps his title in Monte-Carlo! The Greek dominates Davidovich Fokina in two sets (6-3, 7-6) and wins the 8th tournament of his career #HomeOfTennis #RolexMCMasters pic.twitter.com/4rjBFHmGbG
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) April 17, 2022
“I can say that this time, I live the most beautiful moment of my career, he confided after his triumph. This place is really special to me. This is the first tournament I attended, when I was 6 years old. And I never imagined winning it. It’s crazy.”
Last year, a few weeks after winning his first Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo, Tsitsipas led two sets to zero against Novak Djokovic in the Roland-Garros final before losing.