Stefanos Tsitsipas disrupts ATP Race duopoly with Monte Carlo Masters heroics
Stefanos Tsitsipas is now second in the points race to the ATP Finals after successfully defending his maiden Masters title in Monte Carlo.
Ahead of the first clay Masters of the season, Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal and Miami Masters winner Carlos Alcaraz had cemented an all-Spanish top two in the ATP Race to Turin.
However, after garnering 1000 ranking race points from Monte Carlo, Tsitsipas boosted himself from eighth to second in the Race.
Tsitsipas now sits on 2440 points, leading Alcaraz by 480 points and trailing Nadal by 910 points.
However, with Nadal out with a rib injury until at least after Barcelona this week, Tsitsipas has a great opportunity to more than halve that gap.
Since Barcelona is an ATP 500 event, should the Greek claim the title he would only trail Nadal by 410 points in the Race.
Last year, Tsitsipas made it all the way to the final in Barcelona before meeting Nadal himself there.
The duo then played out an epic three-setter which saw Nadal save a championship point to eventually secure a record-extending 12th career title on the Catalonian clay.
The final itself went for three hours and 38 minutes, making if the longest ever ATP final match by duration.
Looking down the Race rankings, while Spain no longer holds a duopoly atop the ladder, they do boast an impressive seven players in the top 28, a quarter of spots in that bracket.
Behind Nadal and Alcaraz, Roberto Bautista Agut is 14th, while Monte Carlo Masters finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina rises to 21st with his run there.
Pedro Martinez, Albert Ramos Vinolas and Pablo Carreno Busta are 24th, 27th and 28th respectively.
Daniil Medvedev and Taylor fritz round out the top five with 1900 and 1745 points respectively, the Russian behind Alcaraz by just 60 Race points.
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