Alcaraz finds his groove again with Japan Open triumph

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz holds up the trophy as he celebrates beating Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka in the men's singles final during the Japan Open tennis tournament at the Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo on October 6, 2026. — AFP pic

First Published: Tuesday, 06 Oct 2026 8:00 PM MYT

TOKYO, Oct 6 — Carlos Alcaraz won his first title since returning from a four-month injury layoff after beating Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in Tuesday’s Japan Open final.

Top seed and defending champion Alcaraz was made to work hard by world No. 19 Lehecka in Tokyo before going on to lift his first trophy since the Qatar Open in February.

It was Alcaraz’s third tournament since returning from a wrist injury, following a run to the US Open quarter-finals and an appearance at the Laver Cup.

“A lot of negative thoughts come to your mind, if you’re going to come back healthy, if you’re going to be the same as I was before,” said Alcaraz.

“A lot of thoughts came to my mind but I tried to put those thoughts away all the time.

“My team and I knew that when I came back I was going to be healthy 100 per cent and if I feel something, it’s not going to be anything at all.”

This was the world No. 3’s third title of the year, including the Australian Open, and the 27th of his career.

It came hours after world No. 1 Jannik Sinner announced that he had brought a premature end to his season due to an ongoing knee injury.

Alcaraz went into the final with a 3-1 career head-to-head record against Lehecka, who was looking to win his first title of the year.

Alcaraz had his service broken immediately by a confident-looking Lehecka, who gave his top-seeded opponent no time to settle.

The Spaniard broke back in a long tussle midway through the first set and followed that up with a brutal display of power tennis in the next game.

Lehecka proved a tough nut to crack, though, and Alcaraz needed to pull out a pair of spectacular drop shots to clinch the first set in a tiebreaker.

Lehecka continued to give Alcaraz problems, but the defending champion went a break up midway through the second set and made no mistakes to close out the victory.

Alcaraz is scheduled to play in the Shanghai Masters starting Wednesday.

He pulled out of last year’s tournament at the last minute after winning in Tokyo, blaming “physical issues” and taking aim at tennis’ packed schedule. — AFP