Q2 In Review: Alcaraz wins two majors, Sinner reaches No. 1

Between a change of surface and a change atop the PIF ATP Rankings, the second quarter of the ATP Tour season was filled with exciting action.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were the two standout players while three ATP Masters 1000 events featured as many different titlists: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev. ATPTour.com looks back on the champions of the second quarter, when the game's leading players continued their bid to earn enough PIF ATP Rankings points to qualify for November's Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

Carlos Alcaraz: Roland Garros, Wimbledon
Dealing with an arm injury across April and May, the Spaniard recovered to perform at his best level during the second quarter’s pair of majors. Alcaraz captured his first Roland Garros title and second Wimbledon crown. He needed a marathon effort in the closing stages of the clay-court major, winning his semi-final and final match in five sets.

Alcaraz then became just the sixth man in the Open Era to complete the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double, joining Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, whom the World No. 3 has defeated in back-to-back Wimbledon finals. “In an interview when I was 11 or 12 years old I said my dream was to win Wimbledon, so I am replaying my dream,” Alcaraz said after triumphing at the All England Club.

Jannik Sinner: Rise to World No. 1 & Halle crown
The 22-year-old star became the first Italian and 29th player to reach World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Sinner, who boasts a 42-4 season record, rose to the top spot after a semi-final run at Roland Garros and the Australian Open champion showed no signs of slowing down.

Sinner's relentless pursuit of excellence continued as he won his maiden grass-court title in Halle, but it was not easy. The top seed needed a deciding set to claw past his first three opponents, only giving Sinner more time to adapt to the surface. A 14-time tour-level titlist, Sinner became the eighth player in PIF ATP Rankings history (since 1973) to claim a trophy in his first tournament as World No. 1. 

Andrey Rublev: Madrid
“I would say this is the most proud title of my career,” Rublev said after winning the Mutua Madrid Open, his second ATP Masters 1000 title. Despite entering the tournament on a four-match skid, the 26-year-old showed grit and determination to win in the Spanish capital, where he upset two-time reigning champion Alcaraz in the quarters and ousted Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final.

Rublev later revealed he struggled with a tonsillitis abscess, yet still managed to produce one of the best performances of his career. “I was almost dead every day. I was not sleeping at night. The last three, four days I didn't sleep,” he said after the final. “One day I woke up with my throat [twice as big] as it should be. The throat is in super pain. It’s tough to swallow because it’s painful,” Rublev told ATP Media.

Alexander Zverev: Rome
The German’s triumph at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia marked his biggest title since his catastrophic ankle injury in the Roland Garros semi-finals in 2022. “This one is special in its own way because it proves to me that I can win these kinds of tournaments again,” said Zverev, who defeated 21st seed Nicolas Jarry in the final. The 27-year-old produced a first-serve masterclass and relied on his baseline firepower to capture his sixth ATP Masters 1000 title and second in Rome (2017).

Hat-tricks for Tsitsipas, Ruud, Fritz
Stefanos Tsitsipas produces his best tennis in the Principality, where he has won three of the past four Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Greek overcame Sinner in a dramatic semi-final, the Italian’s second loss of the season, before ousting Casper Ruud in the final, during which Tsitsipas saved all eight break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“This is an unbelievable win for me. Capturing that win today was nerve-wracking. I really wanted this trinity,” Tsitsipas said.

Casper Ruud won his biggest career title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, avenging his previous week’s Monte-Carlo final loss to Tsitsipas in the championship match.

Joining Tsitsipas as players to win three titles at a single tournament, the Norwegian Ruud triumphed at the Gonet Geneva Open for the third time in four years and Taylor Fritz was unbroken at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, where the American previously won in 2019 and 2022.

Other Q2 Champions…
Alex de Minaur, No. 6 in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, Tommy Paul and Alejandro Tabilo claimed their second titles of 2024. The Australian continued his push for maiden Nitto ATP Finals qualification with a title run in ‘s-Hertogenbosch while Paul won his first ATP 500 title at the cinch Championships. Alejandro Tabilo triumphed at the Mallorca Championships presented by Waterdrop.

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard announced himself to the big stage with a dream run at his home tournament, the Open Parc in Lyon. The 6’8” Frenchman, competing in just his third tour-level event, saved a championship point against Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Jack Draper won his maiden tour-level title at the BOSS Open in Stuttgart.

Ben Shelton lifted his first clay-court crown at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship, where he became the youngest Houston champion since 19-year-old Andy Roddick in 2002. Matteo Berrettini returned to the winners’ circle for the first time since 2022 with a title run at the Grand Prix Hassan II. Hubert Hurkacz (Estoril), Jan-Lennard Struff (Munich) and Marton Fucsovics (Bucharest) also collected clay-court titles.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]