Alcaraz overpowers Fritz to bag 2025 Japan Open title

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Carlos Alcaraz is back on top of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) after sweeping Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 6-4, to reign supreme in the Japan Open tournament on Sept. 30, 2025, in Koto, Tokyo.

Despite entering the grand finals hobbled by a minor left ankle injury, the world No. 1 cruised to early momentum after breaking the 4-all deadlock with a crucial service break point.

From that sequence, Alcaraz gained a 1-0 advantage after serving out the first set, capped off by a booming forehand winner that put the Ariake Tennis Forest Park crowd on their feet.

Before squaring off against Fritz, Alcaraz had to dig deep against Casper Ruud, who stole the first set only to be spoiled when the 22-year-old Spaniard scored a reverse sweep to march to the championship stage.

Alcaraz knew he couldn’t afford to start slow against the red-hot Fritz and stuck to his game plan of pressing forward, neutralizing the challenger’s ability to steal points from long baseline rally exchanges.

Without any consistent offense coming from Fritz, Alcaraz capitalized on every short window of opportunity and racked up a series of overhand smash points from the net to maintain his momentum.

Fritz had a golden chance to score his second break point midway through the second set, but Alcaraz’s resilience once again rose to the occasion, held serve, and raced to a commanding 4-1 lead.

Two games away from bagging his eighth ATP title of the year, Alcaraz meant business in the closeout moments, taking the high reward from a risky serve-and-volley move to claim the seventh game.

The die-hard Alcaraz fans who flocked to Tokyo then caused pandemonium when the young ace pulled through, bouncing back from a loss in the Laver Cup to cop another ATP golden trophy.

Alcaraz wrapped up his triumph in Japan with 69 total points won, including three service breaks and 28 on return.

“It’s been my best season so far without a doubt,” said Alcaraz during his postgame interview.

“Eight titles, 10 finals. That shows how hard I’ve worked just to be able to experience these moments and accomplish my goals. I didn’t start the year that good, struggling emotionally, so how I came back from that, I’m just really proud of myself, and of all the people around me who have helped me to be in this position.”