Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz continued their battle for the world number one ranking before the French Open, smashing their opponents on the red Monte Carlo soil on Tuesday. With Usain Bolt in the crowd, the world's top two raced to second-round triumphs at the Masters. Sinner, ranked second, defeated Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-0 in one hour and four minutes. He was followed onto the court by top-ranked Alcaraz, who defeated Argentine Sebastian Baez 6-1, 6-3.
Sinner is chasing his first important clay court championship and attempting to dethrone defending Monte Carlo champion Alcaraz as world number one.Although the Spaniard stated after the match that the 24-year-old Italian will undoubtedly take the lead in the coming weeks.
Sinner entered the season's opening clay court event after completing a spectacular "Sunshine Double" in March at the Indian Wells and Miami Masters 1000 tournaments, winning both titles without dropping a set.
His victory on Tuesday extended his winning record in 1000-level competitions to 18 matches."It was a good performance from my end," Sinner remarked, adding that the first clay event "is never easy."

"You have to change your game style a little bit, how you approach certain situations," he replied.I came here with wonderful sentiments but few expectations.
Alcaraz made no such reservations."My last clay-court match was almost a year ago," he remarked. "To tell the truth, I missed it. I missed getting dirty a little bit.
Last season, Alcaraz competed in four clay-court tournaments, winning three, including Monte Carlo, and losing the final in Barcelona.Sinner missed the start of the 2025 clay season after serving a ban, but he recovered to reach the finals in Rome, where he lost to Alacraz, and Roland Garros, where he led the Spaniard by two sets and held three championship points before losing a five-set, five-hour marathon.
After a year, ranking points are lost, but Sinner has nothing to lose at Monte Carlo, thus Alcaraz believes the Italian will return to the top."I'm going to lose the number one in the world," Alcaraz remarked after his victory. "I don't know if it's going to be in this tournament or the next one."

"It will be very difficult to protect all of the points, and even if I do, Jannik will score some points in this event. "My main focus is to perform well on clay courts and see how the season unfolds."I surprised myself.
Sinner took a few games to establish his groove against Frenchman Humbert, whom he had only met twice before, the last time five years ago, but broke serve in the fifth game and held to love for a 4–2 lead.
Humbert escaped a double break point but ultimately lost his service and the first set, 6-3.The second set was a one-sided affair. The Italian did not concede a single game to the Frenchman, defeating him 6-0 in 23 minutes.
Sinner will face either Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo or Czech Tomas Machac in the next round.
Alcaraz dominated the first set but struggled in the second, ultimately winning by seven points.A great start to the competition for me," he said. "I was astonished by the level. "I expected to play a little worse."
He will then play either another Argentine, Tomas Etcheverry, or Frenchman Terence Atmane.