Monte Carlo Masters: Stefanos Tsitsipas Defends Crown, Sets Sight On "Top Two"

Stefanos Tsitsipas said he is aiming to finish the season in the world's top two after successfully defending his Monte Carlo Masters title with a hard-fought victory over Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Sunday's final. Third seed Tsitsipas hammered 21 winners and made only 11 unforced errors in the Monaco sunshine to win 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in an hour and 36 minutes. It was the 23-year-old Greek's eighth ATP title and first in 11 months as he made the perfect start to the clay-court season.

"I can definitely have a great season and maybe finish it in the top two," said the world number five, whose triumph in Monaco was his fourth tournament success on clay.

"This year I really want to have good results on grass and on hard courts because I'm sure I can score big ATP points there.

"If I manage to win matches there with as much consistency as on clay, I think I have a great chance of finishing the year in the top two. It's one of my big goals."

Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Rafael Nadal currently sit above Tsitsipas in the ATP rankings.

Tsitsipas became the sixth player to win back-to-back Monte Carlo Masters in the Open era, emulating Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Thomas Muster, Bjorn Borg and Ilie Nastase.

"It's great, especially because the fans were there. It was livelier than last year," said Tsitsipas, who beat Andrey Rublev in the 2021 final, which was held behind closed doors due the Covid pandemic.

He is gearing up for another tilt at the French Open title after losing last year's final at Roland Garros to Djokovic despite leading by two sets.

"I think my tennis is excellent on all surfaces, although it adapts better to clay," added Tsitsipas.

Davidovich Fokina had knocked out world number