Battling Alcaraz outlasts Sinner in thriller to win China Open

Carlos Alcaraz roared back from a set down to beat world number one Jannik Sinner in a thriller and win his first China Open title on Wednesday.
The four-time Grand Slam champion from Spain edged a captivating final 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) for his fourth ATP crown of the year and 16th overall.
Alcaraz, who is set to return to number two in the world behind Sinner, was 3-0 down in the final-set tie break only to fight back and win in three hours, 21 minutes.
The dramatic triumph ended Sinner’s run of 14 victories in a row and saw him deposed as the Beijing champion after an almighty fight.
“What can I say about the year you’re having, it’s unbelievable,” Alcaraz told Sinner at the victory presentation.
“I respect you a lot as a player, but even more as a person.”
US Open champion Sinner has been playing in Beijing under fresh scrutiny.
The Italian has admitted to sleepless nights over his doping case, which was reignited at the weekend when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it had appealed the decision to clear him.
In front of a packed house in the Chinese capital, the early exchanges were nervy with both players under immediate pressure on their service games.
Sinner, 23, was the first to blink, with second-seeded Alcaraz breaking for a 3-1 lead and celebrating with a fist pump.
The Spaniard held easily for 4-1 and had his opponent uncharacteristically rattled.
Alcaraz, 21, served for the set but US Open champion Sinner grabbed the break back when he needed it most.
Sinner then saved set point on his own serve to force the tie break, and saved another in the tie break before taking the set at his first opportunity when Alcaraz fired long.
It was the first set Alcaraz had dropped all week.
The second set was just as tight. 
Both players saw chances come and go but they went with serve until Alcaraz broke for 5-4, before holding with ease to send the final into a third set.
The decider again went to a tie break, where Alcaraz finally prevailed on his first match point.
“It was a great battle again,” said Sinner, who twice tested positive for a steroid in March but tennis authorities cleared him of wrongdoing and allowed him to keep playing.
In August, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted Sinner’s explanation that the drug entered his system unintentionally when his physiotherapist used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided massage and sports therapy to the player.
WADA on Saturday said it had appealed and was seeking a ban of up to two years.
– Ruthless Sabalenka –
In the women’s draw, top seed Aryna Sabalenka won her 15th match in a row to power into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Madison Keys.
The US Open champion will face Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
World number two Sabalenka has won more matches on tour this season than anyone else and extended her red-hot streak with a fairly routine victory over the 24th-ranked American.
Sabalenka is on a collision course in the semi-finals with China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who faces 43rd-ranked Amanda Anisimova in the last 16 later Wednesday.
By Peter Stebbings