Stefanos Tsitsipas brushed aside Casper Ruud to claim his third Monte-Carlo Masters title in four years.

The Greek star took just an hour and 37 minutes to see off his Norwegian opponent 6-1 6-4 on Court Rainier III.

Ruud dispatched world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals but he could not repeat the feat as Tsitsipas once again produced his best tennis in the principality.

The title winner, who has had to overcome a back problem, told the ATP Tour’s official website: “It has been very difficult, so to be back on the podiums, winning tournaments just feels amazing.

“I can’t thank my family enough and friends – and if there is God out there – for making this moment possible. I am extremely grateful for every person behind this journey.

“The third time is even more special than the first or second time. This is an unbelievable win for me. Capturing that win today was nerve-wracking. I really wanted this trinity. I am extremely happy today.”

The 25-year-old 12th seed came out firing against the world number 10, breaking the struggling Ruud in the third game and clinching the first set at the second time of asking.

He had to save a break point in the first game of the second set and then three in the seventh as the improving Norwegian pushed for a way back into the match.

However, Tsitsipas then broke to edge himself towards the finishing line and complete a good afternoon’s work.

He said: “I am glad I presented on court and showed some ruthless tennis. From the beginning to the end my play was cohesive and I was able to blend in a lot of different shots.”

Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Barcelona Open due to injury.

The world number three pulled out of the Monte-Carlo Masters with a right forearm problem and has not recovered in time to defend his title in his home country.

A statement from the tournament read: “Carlos Alcaraz will not be able to defend the title he won the last two seasons.

“The player from Murcia has suffered from the injury sustained in Monte Carlo, and did not have a good feeling in his training on Sunday and, despite having tried until the last moment, he will not be in the Barcelona Open.

“Wishing you a speedy recovery, we hope to see you next year.”

Fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal is scheduled to make his comeback from injury at the tournament.

The 37-year-old has not played on the main tour since January due to a hip injury.

Dan Evans suffered a straight sets defeat to Sebastian Ofner in the opening round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Evans’ second match on clay for the season was over quickly after he was blown away by the Austrian.

The British number three dropped the first four matches in a set he went on to lose 6-1.

The 33-year-old improved in the second set but again dropped serve early on and was chasing from then on.

With just under an hour and 10 minutes on the clock, Ofner was 30-0 up serving for the match but offered Evans a glimmer of hope with a couple of errors to bring it back to 30-30.

However, the 27-year-old Austrian regained his composure to seal his place in the second round, 6-1 6-4.

Evans lost his first clay-court match of the season in straight sets to Roberto Carballes Baena at the Grand Prix Hassan in Marrakech last week.

Greg Rusedski announced his retirement from tennis on this day in 2007 after helping Great Britain defeat the Netherlands in the Davis Cup.

Rusedski partnered Jamie Murray to a crucial 6-1 3-6 6-3 7-6 (5) doubles win over Robin Haase and Rogier Wassen, which gave Britain an unassailable 3-0 lead in Birmingham.

The former world number four, then aged 33, revealed his retirement plans in an emotional courtside interview.

“It was a proud moment as it’s going to be my last match,” he said, fighting back tears. “I’m officially retiring on a win today.”

Rusedski had played just one previous match in 2007 – losing in the first round of a Challenger event in Sarajevo – as he struggled with a nagging hip injury and plummeting world ranking.

He had been expected to retire at some point during that year and ended speculation after helping Britain secure an elite World Group play-off, which they went on to win 4-1 against Croatia the following September.

Great Britain captain John Lloyd paid tribute to the world number 283, saying: “It’s good to go out playing a match like that but we’ll miss him. We’ve had a great team and Greg has been a big part of it.”

Born in Montreal, Rusedski turned professional in 1991 and became a British citizen in 1995. He made his Davis Cup debut later that year and played a total of 43 rubbers, finishing with a win-loss record of 30-13.

The former British number one was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1997 after losing to Pat Rafter in the US Open final.

His booming serve-and-volley game seemed ideally suited to Wimbledon, but the furthest he got was the quarter-finals, losing to Frenchman Cedric Pioline in four sets in 1997.

He won 15 ATP Tour titles, securing his last one in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2005 on the same court he had won his first 12 years earlier.

Jannik Sinner won his third title of the season as he finally became the Miami Open champion.

The Italian, who claimed the Australian Open in January and followed it up with victory in Rotterdam, put in a scintillating display to beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 6-1 in Florida.

His success sees the 22-year-old become the new world number two and avenges defeats in the final here in 2021 and 2023.

It also means his semi-final loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells a fortnight ago remains the only time he has been beaten so far this year.

"It has been a very special week for me, I have faced different kinds of situations on the court and different opponents," he told Sky Sports.

"But I guess I managed the situation well.

"I am very happy to be number two in the world, it is just a number, for me most important is trying to execute my gameplan and I managed to do this."

Dimitrov, who is enjoying a resurgence and ousted Alcaraz in the semi-final here, had the first opportunity to gain the upper hand against Sinner and things might have been different had the Bulgarian not gone wide on an early break point.

That allowed Sinner to take control and he broke in the next game to open up a lead before missing more break points to go 5-2 up.

His domination continued, though, as he only let Dimitrov win one more game in the match.

The Italian took the first set with a stunning backhand down the line and then was in total control of the second set as his opponent barely got on the board.

Sinner closed it out to claim a second Masters 1000 title.

Andy Murray has revealed he is still unsure exactly when this summer he will retire as a tennis player.

Murray, 36, said last month that he “did not plan on playing much past this summer” and in an interview with The Times he explained why he cannot be more specific about when he hangs up his racket.

He said: “I would love the chance to play in another Olympics, but also genuinely only if I felt like there was a chance of winning a medal.

“I’m also very conscious that because of how amazing my experiences at the Olympics have been, I would want to be there by right and not just take one of the other guys’ spots, because it is a brilliant opportunity.

“We have top doubles players (Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are ranked inside the world’s top 10) and also Jack (Draper), Cam (Norrie) and Evo (Dan Evans) in singles as well.”

Murray, a three-time grand slam winner, who held the number one spot in the men’s singles rankings for a total of 41 weeks in the same era as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, could focus on the doubles at the Paris Olympics, which will be played on his least favourite surface, clay.

He reached the quarter-finals in partnership with Salisbury at Tokyo 2020 and added: “When I played with Joe, I had the conversation beforehand with him that my feeling was there was a greater chance of me winning a medal in doubles than singles.”

Murray said he was “bored” of being questioned about when he will retire, saying: “It’s been happening since Wimbledon last year in most weeks. It’s something that I’ve had to talk about and entertain.

“Obviously at some stage the end will come. It’s not an easy decision to know exactly when that will be or when it should be.”

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (5) 6-1 on Sunday to win his second-straight BNP Paribas Open title at Indian Wells.

The world number two took only one hour and 42 minutes to claim victory, marking Alcaraz’s first title since his triumph at Wimbledon last year.

The 20-year-old Spaniard began the Indian Wells tournament with a 6-3 record on the season and an injured ankle, which he sustained during his latest outing in Rio de Janeiro.

Medvedev started strong in the match’s opening rounds, establishing a 3-0 lead as Alcaraz’s errors began to pile up.

It did not take long for Alcaraz to find his feet though, breaking back before matching the world number four to force a tie-break.

He almost let an early lead in the tie-break slip by, but recovered again to take the first set in just over an hour.

Once he had broken out in front, the world number two was barely troubled in the second set en route to retaining his Indian Wells title.

He told reporters on-court after the match that the win had bolstered his confidence following his Rio injury scare.

“Winning this tournament means a lot to me because the week before it began, I had a lot of doubts about my ankle,” Alcaraz said.

“I remember my first practice here was just 30 minutes with no movement, and probably the first practice with really good tennis players was really tough for me because I thought I was not going to play my best.”

He added: “I was not feeling well with my ankle, so a lot of doubts for me. But once I stepped on the court, the first round, I started to feel better.”

Carlos Alcaraz ended Jannik Sinner’s winning run as he claimed a place in the BNP Paribas Open final 1-6 6-3 6-2.

Australian Open champion Sinner had won 16 straight matches to begin the year – and 19 in all stretching back to last season – but the number three seed had no answer to the Spaniard after winning the first set.

Defending Indian Wells champion Alcaraz was broken twice after a three-hour rain delay as Sinner raced to a 6-1 first set victory.

But having faced deuce on his opening service game of the second set, the Spaniard grabbed the initiative with an early break.

He saved break points in successive games and served out to level the match.

Alcaraz, who would have surrendered the world number two spot to Sinner with a defeat, again broke early in the deciding set.

He dropped just three points on his serve, rattling off five straight games to lead 5-1, clinching victory on his third match point in just over two hours.

“I stayed strong mentally,” said Alcaraz. “I think that’s a really important part in this game. You have to be strong mentally if you want to overcome these kind of matches, a set down against someone that’s playing an unbelievable game.

“I changed my style a little bit, I changed my game a little bit and I think it worked very well. I’m really happy to beat Jannik and be in the final again.”

World number two Carlos Alcaraz raced into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a straight-sets win over Fabian Marozsan in Indian Wells.

The Spaniard, bidding to become the first player to defend the title since Novak Djokovic in 2016, won 6-3 6-3 in an hour and a quarter.

Hungarian Marozsan, 24, came into the match with a rare winning head-to-head record against Alcaraz, having beaten him on the Rome clay last year in their only previous meeting, one of the shock results of the season.

The Wimbledon champion quickly went about taking his revenge, winning four games in a row from 3-2 down to take the first set.

A solitary break for 4-2 in the second proved enough to wrap up the match and book a last-eight meeting with Alexander Zverev.

“Honestly I was nervous before the match, playing against someone who beat you, let’s say easily, it was difficult for me to approach the game,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.

“But I’m happy with the win. Today I knew better what I needed to do than in Rome.”

Zverev took down Australian Alex de Minaur after he lost the first set before coming back to win 5-7 6-2 6-3.

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner continued his stellar start to the year, recording his 18th straight win in a victory over American Ben Shelton 7-6 (4) 6-1.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 11th seed from Greece, was on the end of an upset as he slipped to a 6-2 6-4 defeat to Czech youngster Jiri Lehecka.

Andy Murray produced an accomplished display to beat David Goffin in straight sets and progress to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Murray had won his previous seven meetings with the Belgian, but entered this clash in poor form and revealed last week it was likely he would end his decorated tennis career this summer.

The three-time grand-slam champion appeared rejuvenated following his announcement in Dubai and put in one of his best displays of the year to claim a routine 6-3 6-2 victory, which sets up a last-64 clash with Andrey Rublev.

In a nip-and-tuck first set, Murray had to be patient after a break point in Goffin’s opening service game was held before he was able to strike when 4-3 up.

Murray claimed his first break of the match in the eighth game and sent down two aces to seal a 34-minute opener where he won the final 10 points.

The momentum was with the British number four now and a double-fault by Goffin handed him an early advantage in the second set.

World number 61 Murray continued to ask questions of Goffin’s serve and a second break arrived to put him on the verge of a place in the last-64, which was sealed with an ace.

Compatriot Jack Draper suffered disappointment as he lost in three sets to Chris O’Connell in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open.

British prospect Draper had defeated Murray on his way to the last 16 of the tournament in 2023 but lost six games in a row in the final set to go down 1-6 6-3 6-2 to his Australian opponent.

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It continued a frustrating period for Draper, who made the semi-finals of the Mexican Open last week but had to retire during his last-four clash with eventual champion Alex de Minaur.

Draper initially showed no ill-effects after he had battled food poisoning in Acapulco and eventually edged a lengthy fourth game to go 3-1 up before he saved a number of break points to consolidate his advantage.

Another break followed to allow the world number 37 to take the opener 6-1 but he sent down two double faults at the start of the second to hand O’Connell the initiative.

The Aussie did not look back and forced a decider, which started with Draper saving four break points before he broke to go 2-0 up.

Draper ran out of gas though, with world number 66 O’Connell booking a second-round meeting with Alexander Zverev.

Rafael Nadal's French Open haul is the only record in sport that will never be broken, according to Richard Krajicek.

And the former Wimbledon champion believes Nadal could yet add a 15th Roland Garros title in what is set to be his final year on the circuit.

Indeed, Krajicek believes Nadal's great rival Novak Djokovic would even be hoping to see the Spaniard succeed again in Paris.

While Djokovic's 24 singles grand slam triumphs edge out Nadal's 22, his performances at the clay-court major are unmatched.

Nadal has 14 French Open titles, losing only three times in 115 matches at the event.

Although he did not compete last year, as Djokovic earned his third Roland Garros championship, a winning return in 2024 would provide a fitting conclusion to a legendary career.

"It would be great for Nadal to go for the clay and win one more French Open," Krajicek told Stats Perform.

"I think every record in sports or in tennis can and will probably be broken. I'm pretty sure the only one that will never be broken is the 14 French Open titles from Rafael Nadal. I don't see how somebody can win 14 titles."

Of the possibility of one last win for Nadal, Krajicek added: "It would be just incredible.

"I think everybody in tennis, probably including his competition, Djokovic or [Carlos] Alcaraz, would love for Rafa to win one more French Open."

That is a realistic aim, according to Krajicek, although he does not see Nadal competing for the top prize at either Wimbledon or the US Open.

"For me, [the French Open] is the only one. If he wins any grand slam, it's that one," the 1996 All England Club winner said. "I don't think he'll ever win Wimbledon again, also not the US Open.

"I don't know how good his body is, but the feeling and how much he played or how little he played... I think, for me, only the French Open. Roland Garros is the only one he can win."

Asked for his reflections on Nadal's legacy, Krajicek replied: "I think his legacy will be of a great champion, number two in grand slams, so one of the greatest ever, unbelievable.

"A great person, humble person, and probably the biggest fighter we've ever seen in any sports arena, in any sport. Just an incredibly mentally strong athlete."

Novak Djokovic still remains the favourite to win any tournament he enters and is capable of winning six more grand slams before the end of next year.

That is according to former Wimbledon winner Richard Krajicek, who told Stats Perform he considers Djokovic the sport's all-time greatest.

Djokovic won three majors last year and reached the final of a fourth, but he was knocked out of the 2024 Australian Open at the semi-final stage.

Jannik Sinner defeated the 10-time Melbourne champion in four sets before beating Daniil Medvedev in the final, seeming to usher in a new era for tennis.

However, Krajicek insists Djokovic is far from done as he continues to pick and choose which tournaments he enters. 

"Five or six years ago, I was wondering how long he's going to maintain his level, but he's still doing it," Krajicek told Stats Perform.

"He played very few tournaments last year and still managed to be number one. 

"I doubt that he's going to stay number one for long if he only plays 11 or 12 events because then you basically have to win every event.

"But for me, he's still going to win one to three grand slams a year, for the next two years at least."

Wimbledon was the only major at which Djokovic fell short last year as his streak of four straight titles at SW19 came to an end against Carlos Alcaraz.

Krajicek, who won the tournament in 1996, believes the 36-year-old remains the man to beat in this year's competition.

"For sure, at Wimbledon," Krajicek said when asked if Djokovic is the favourite. "The French Open and the US Open has more competition. 

"It's difficult as there are more strong, fit players like Medvedev, Sinner and Alcaraz. 

"That will be very difficult to win the US Open, but for me, he is still the favourite to win Wimbledon."

Djokovic won his 24th grand slam singles title when triumphing at the US Open last September with victory over Medvedev in the final.

The world number one is two in front of Rafael Nadal for the most majors won by a male in the Open Era, while the retired Roger Federer finished on 20.

On that basis, Djokovic is the greatest of all time in the view of Krajicek, who also cites his longevity.

"For me, he's the best player that ever played the game," the Dutchman said. "He has won every grand slam at least three times. 

"He's won 24 grand slams, and he's also won four grand slams in a row previously. Those are just incredible stats. 

"He's been number one for over 400 weeks, and I think Federer is the next one with about 310 weeks. 

"So, for me, Federer and Nadal are unbelievable players, but Djokovic is just a little level higher."

Alex de Minaur has defended his Mexican Open title after defeating Norwegian Casper Ruud in straight sets in Acapulco.

The match took just under two hours as the pair battled in long rallies, with the difference being the Australian’s ability to capitalise on break points, nailing three of four while Ruud converted just one of four.

The 25-year-old took an early lead in the first set at 3-1 and served out the rest of the set, while in the second the pair broke each other before de Minaur had the decisive break in the seventh game.

De Minaur won the same competition last year, beating American Tommy Paul, and further solidified his ranking in the top ten.

He has won 10 straight games in Acapulco and is the first player since David Ferrer in 2012 to win back-to-back titles at the tournament.

He defeated Jack Draper in the semi-final after the Englishman retired ill in the third set.

Jack Draper cruised into the semi-finals of the Mexican Open in Acapulco as he beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2 6-2.

The British number three is ranked three places higher than his opponent at world number 50, but the gulf between them on court proved much greater.

Draper broke Kecmanovic in the third game of the opening set and repeated the feat for a 4-1 lead, serving out to take the opening set in 31 minutes.

The start of the opening set proved a tighter tussle, the first four games going with serve as Draper survived a break point to level at 2-2.

Draper took control from that moment, capitalising on his fourth break point to win the fifth set and adding a double break to move 5-2 ahead.

He served out to love in the final game, booking his place in the last four in 80 minutes.

Draper beat both Kecmanovic and American Tommy Paul, who he defeated in his opening match in Acapulco, en route to the final in Adelaide in January.

Jack Draper needed little more than an hour to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Mexican Open in Acapulco.

The 22-year-old, who beat seventh seed Tommy Paul in the previous round, proved too strong for Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, winning 6-3 6-0 in 68 minutes.

The British number three started strongly, breaking the world number 82 in his opening scoring game and threatening as he opened a 3-0 lead.

Games went on serve as Nishioka fought to stay in touch at 5-3, but Draper served out to win the opening set in 42 minutes.

He was barely troubled after that, again breaking Nishioka to start the second set.

He broke twice more and stayed firm on his own serve to book a place in the last eight.

Cameron Norrie’s defence of his Rio Open title is over after he was beaten by qualifier Mariano Navone in a gruelling semi-final.

Norrie struggled physically in the Brazilian heat as Navone, playing in his first ATP semi-final, pulled away to win 6-4 6-2.

The pair traded breaks in the opening two games, and then Navone, showing little fear in his first appearance on such a stage, got the break again to go 4-3 up.

Norrie saved break point three times in the next service game, but it was only a temporarily reprieve before Navone took the first set.

The pair traded further breaks at the start of the second set before another slog of a battle in the third game, which saw Norrie save four points on his serve before eventually succumbing.

That proved a turning point as Navone reeled off the next two games to take a commanding lead over a fading Norrie, whose resistance had been broken.

After falling 5-2 down, Norrie received treatment from the physio but got back on his feet to see the game out even though his fate was already sealed.