CALIFORNIA, United States, Mar 18 – World number two Carlos Alcaraz defended his Indian Wells title with a straight-set win over Daniil Medvedev in a repeat of last year’s final.
Alcaraz, 20, beat the Russian world number four 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to claim his first title since Wimbledon in July.
The Spaniard was returning from an ankle injury which forced him to retire from his opening match at the Rio Open last month.
“I love playing here – it’s so special for me,” Alcaraz told Sky Sports.
“This year is a bit more special because before the tournament I was thinking about whether I was going to play my best or not. I wasn’t feeling my best with my ankle injury.
“There were a lot of doubts but I’m really happy to overcome the problems. We did really good work off the court to try to recover as best I can.”
Alcaraz, who was stung on his forehead as a swarm of bees forced a delay in his quarter-final win over Alexander Zverev, recovered from 3-0 down against Medvedev to force a tie-break and clinch the first set.
He breezed through the second, breaking serve twice to secure his 13th career title and become the first repeat winner at Indian Wells since Novak Djokovic won three straight titles from 2014 to 2016.
“I had a lot of nerves. It was difficult to start, but I started to play better,” Alcaraz said. “I calmed myself and controlled my emotions.”
