Carlos Alcaraz overcame a sluggish start and finished with a flourish to successfully defend his Indian Wells crown with a 7-6(5) 6-1 win over Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday (Mar 17). The win ends a title drought for the world number two that stretched back to last summer's Wimbledon and makes him the first man to defend a championship in the California desert since Novak Djokovic won three straight between 2014-2016. Alcaraz showed no ill effects from the ankle injury that forced him to withdraw from last month's Rio Open but said it was on his mind coming into the event.
World number two Carlos Alcaraz defended his Indian Wells title with a straight-set win over Daniil Medvedev in a repeat of last year's final. Alcaraz, 20, beat the Russian world number four 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to claim his first title since Wimbledon in July.
The Spaniard was returning from an ankle injury which forced him to retire from his opening match at the Rio Open last month.
"I love playing here – it's so special for me," Alcaraz told.
Alcaraz, who was stung on his forehead as a swarm of bees forced a delay in his quarter-final win over Alexander Zverev, recovered from 3-0 down against Medvedev to force a tie-break and clinch the first set.
He breezed through the second, breaking serve twice to secure his 13th career title and become the first repeat winner at Indian Wells since Novak Djokovic won three straight titles from 2014 to 2016.
