Carlos Alcaraz breaks 32-year ATP streak by winning the Japan Open
Carlos Alcaraz won his first tournament for five months at the Japan Open by defeating Jiri Lehecka in the Tokyo final.
Alcaraz put in arguably the best performance of the week to topple Lehecka 7-6, 6-4 to win the second ATP title of his 2026 season, after his Qatar Open triumph in February.
The Spaniard’s victory at the Japan Open was the 27th of his career and it’s put him in very good stead before a very busy end to the 2026 season.
Alcaraz is expected to play the Shanghai Masters, the Six Kings Slam, the Paris Masters, and the ATP Finals before the season is out and his second consecutive Japan Open title will undoubtedly give him a boost.
The Spaniard has become the first player in 32 years to win two Japan Open titles in a row.
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Pete Sampras in 1993 and 1994 was the last player to win two Japan Open titles consecutively, so it’s another impressive honour from Alcaraz.
Speaking about Alcaraz’s performance in the Japan Open final, Liam Broady was very impressed while on commentary duties for Sky Sports Tennis.
“Yeah, the serving stats. 67% in from Alcaraz, but 85% points won. That’s absolutely huge. The performance rating, it’s very rare we see Alcaraz below an eight these days. Second serve, 68% won. Normally if you’re above 45% I’d say you’re pretty good,” he said.
“We obviously know Carlos Alcaraz is more than pretty good. He’s won pretty much every stat you can potentially win. I’m surprised to see the only stat he’s not won is over nine shot rally. You’d think that’s where he would be at his best, so surprising that.
“That maybe indicates the firepower that Alcaraz has at his disposal as well. He’s such a great athlete and such a great shot picker that we do sometimes perhaps overlook how big he does strike the ball.”
After his Japan Open triumph, Alcaraz is 4160 points behind Alexander Zverev in the world No 2 spot.
Zverev has been confirmed to become the new world No 1 by the end of the year, thanks to Jannik Sinner’s decision to end his season early.
However, Alcaraz will now be looking to increase the pressure on the German star before the beginning of the 2027 season. He also has a chance to replace Sinner and become the world No 2 yet again.
Whatever happens before the end of the season, Alcaraz will be delighted to return to winning ways by winning the Japan Open once again. It’s likely it won’t be the last ATP title of his season either.
