Carlos Alcaraz withdraws from Shanghai Masters after beating Taylor Fritz at Japan Open

Carlos Alcaraz tightened his grip on the world No. 1 spot by beating a physically compromised Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 to win the Japan Open Tuesday in Tokyo, before withdrawing from the Shanghai Masters to manage his body as he seeks the year-end top spot.

Alcaraz is looking to secure the year-end top spot for the first time in his career, and has ensured that Jannik Sinner, who plays the China Open final Wednesday, can’t close the gap on him this week. Both events have 500 points on offer for the winner, and so in the race to be the year-end world No. 1, which is based on points earned in 2025, Alcaraz will have a lead of 2,590 over Sinner even if the Italian beats Learner Tien in Beijing.

Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the Shanghai Masters, which offers 1,000 ranking points, means Sinner can close the gap to 1,590 by winning the title. The Spaniard said he and his team believe that the “best decision is to rest and recover,” and expressed regret at missing out on seeing the “amazing fans” in Shanghai.

Alcaraz absolutely looks like the man to beat at the moment, recovering from an ankle injury in the first round here to cruise to yet another title. This was his ninth straight final, his eighth title of the year, and a 42nd win from his last 44 matches. Fritz, who will move to No. 4 in the world when the rankings update next week, was outclassed and at arms’ length even before an issue with his left leg hampered him.

The first set had at least been competitive, even if Alcaraz was always in control. He was irritated at being rushed between points by the automatic shot clock, and at one change of ends complained angrily to umpire Fergus Murphy, saying: “You’ve never played tennis in your life.” Alcaraz’s mood wasn’t helped by his failure to convert five break points in the opening set, making questionable decisions on some of them just as he had done against Casper Ruud in Monday’s semifinal. In that match, Alcaraz paid for his profligacy with the first set; against Fritz, he broke for 5-4 and served it out.

Fritz then required a medical timeout, which signaled the end of the match as a real contest. The biggest threat to Alcaraz was the possibility of him being frazzled, as he has been before, by playing an injured opponent. There were signs of that early on in the set when Alcaraz, apparently overthinking, made a few errors to fall down break point while serving up 2-1.

He managed to hold on and then broke a visibly ailing Fritz in the next game, to secure the double break and effectively the match. From then on, the only question was whether Fritz would retire. He played on, and even got one of the breaks back, staying in points with clever prods down the line on his forehand side and unleashing on groundstrokes whenever given the chance, but Alcaraz produced two stunning drop shots to close out the final game as his clarity of thought returned.

With Alcaraz now out of the next event, he may have more than one eye on Sinner’s fortunes in Beijing Wednesday.

(Top photo: Koji Watanabe / Getty Images)

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