Sinner Wins Paris Masters To Retain World Number One Position

Jannik Sinner won the Paris Masters for the first time by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) on Sunday as the four-time Grand Slam champion reclaimed his position atop the world rankings.

The 24-year-old’s maiden crown in Paris, coupled with incumbent world number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain crashing out early in the tournament, will see Sinner return to the top of men’s tennis when the ATP rankings are updated on Monday.

The Italian first claimed the number one ranking in June last year and held it for 65 weeks until he lost the US Open title match to Alcaraz in September.

Reclaiming top spot from his rival in Paris will taste even sweeter for Sinner after he went down in a remarkable five-set final to Alcaraz at Roland Garros earlier in the season.
Despite missing three months at the start of 2025 after twice testing positive for traces of clostebol in March last year, Sinner has now won five titles this season — including the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Sunday’s victory was, however, his first 1,000-level title since Shanghai last October.

For Canadian ninth seed Auger-Aliassime, defeat at the last hurdle in the French capital prevented him from sealing up his spot at the ATP Finals later this month.

Auger-Aliassime is, however, the favourite to claim the eighth and final berth for the season-ending tournament as his run to the title match leapfrogged him ahead of Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the race to Turin.

After dropping only one game in his semi-final win against third seed Alexander Zverev on Saturday, Sinner picked up immediately where he left off as he broke Auger-Aliassime in the opening game to seize the advantage.

Sinner then forced a couple of break opportunities at the very start of the second frame, but Auger-Aliassime rallied to save himself on each occasion with a huge first serve.

Both men were striking the ball cleanly as the number of winners continued to climb.

Auger-Aliassime displayed grit to save three break points in the seventh game as Sinner looked to have finally worn the Montreal-native down with the relentless pace and accuracy of his groundstrokes.

Sinner has won a Big Title for every 6.3 tournaments he has played in his career.

Only Djokovic (3.3), Rafael Nadal (3.5), Alcaraz (3.9), Roger Federer (4.4), Pete Sampras (4.9) and Andre Agassi (6.1) have won the events at a higher rate.