Carlos Alcaraz will officially be World No. 1 at the 2023 Roland Garros as he did the only thing needed at the 2023 Italian Open.
After the 20-year-old won the title in Madrid, he closed up the gap to first Novak Djokovic to only five points. And since he was forced to skip the Italian Open last year, and the Serb is a defending champion, he needed to do only one thing to become the new World No. 1.
The prize money and points distribution in Rome offers 16,340€ to players that lose in the first round and also 10 points. Participation was everything that Alcaraz needed to become eligible for that and he fulfilled that requirement the minute he stepped his foot onto the court for a competitive ATP match at Foro Italico.
He did that when he entered the court for his second-round match against fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos Vinolas, who defeated Francesco Passaro in the first round.
He did that and even succeeded, beating the fellow Spaniard 6-4, 6-1 and advancing to the third round of the 2023 Italian Open in Rome. The second seed will now face either the 32nd-seeded Jiri Lehecka or Fabian Marozsan.
Even though the Spaniard will be seeded first, it doesn't change much for him as his Serb rival will be most probably seeded second, meaning that the two will be able to meet in the final of the competition in the French capital.
Up until now, the 20-year-old spent 22 weeks atop the ATP Rankings and he's set to add quite a few weeks as his next stint will be stretched at least over three weeks. He can boost his chances of staying the World No. 1 even further by doing well at the 2023 Italian Open, thanks to having no points to defend.
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