The Spaniard now leads his ATP head-to-heads against Sinner 6-4 after winning all three of their encounters this season (Indian Wells, Roland Garros, Beijing). Impressively, Alcaraz now has a 8-1 win-loss record against the Top 5 players this year, his only loss to one of the elite was against Novak Djokovic in the gold medal match at the Olympics.

The men's final of this year’s China Open was billed as a battle between two titans and it definitely didn't disappoint.

Carlos Alcaraz won seven straight points in the decisive tiebreaker to beat top-ranked Jannik Sinner 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3) and win the China Open on Wednesday, extending his recent mastery over his biggest rival — who is dealing with an ongoing doping case.

Sinner was not giving up the ghost, though, and a wave of Alcaraz errors saw the Italian level the final set at 4-4, before the defending champion inched ever closer to back-to-back titles by winning the first three points of the tie-breaker.

Carlos Alcaraz comes from a set down to edge out world number one Jannik Sinner in a dramatic China Open final.

October 1 - World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz will clash in Wednesday's China Open final in Beijing. The top-seeded Sinner advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over home favorite Bu Yunchaokete and No. 2 seed Alcaraz held off No. 3 Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3 in Tuesday's semifinals.

Amid the doping scandal, Sinner progressed all the way to the China Open final, where he lost to Alcaraz despite going 3-0 ahead in the deciding tie-breaker. Speaking after his de

No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain rallied to defeat No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3) to capture his fourth title of the season Wednesday at the China Open in Beijing.

Sinner and Alcaraz accounted for all four Grand Slam titles this year between them. Alcaraz leads the head-to-head series 5-4 -- including wins at both their meetings this year -- but Sinner doesn't believe that recent history will have a bearing on Wednesday's final.