Returning Alcaraz claims Japan Open title with straight-set win over Lehecka

[p]Top seed and defending champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alcaraz-garfia-carlos/UkhgIFEq/"]Alcaraz[/a] was made to work hard by world number 19 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lehecka-jiri/6PlgfXKR/"]Lehecka[/a] in Tokyo before going on to lift his first trophy since the Qatar Open in February.[/p][p]It was Alcaraz's third tournament since coming back from a wrist injury, following a run to the US Open quarter-finals and an appearance at the Laver Cup.[/p][p][b]"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.[/b][/p][p][b]"A lot of thoughts came to my mind, but I tried to put those thoughts away all the time.[/b][/p][p][b]"My team and I knew that when I came back I was going to be healthy 100% and if I feel something, it's not going to be anything at all."[/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="881a0b7c-1d7a-430e-ac69-abb2881fa76e" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="58cd70de-3849-4227-a4cd-2deb4ec14879" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]This was the world number three's third title of the year, including the Australian Open, and the 27th of his career.[/p][p]It came hours after world number one [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sinner-jannik/6HdC3z4H/"]Jannik Sinner[/a] announced that he had brought a premature end to his season due to an ongoing knee injury.[/p][p]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.[/p][p]Alcaraz had his service broken immediately by a confident-looking Lehecka, who gave his top-seeded opponent no time to settle.[/p][p]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.[/p][p]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 tie-break.[/p][p]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.[/p][embed guid="324e7c12-7435-4279-ae8c-274708389876" url="https://x.com/atptour/status/2107426844488446329" social-type="twitter" /][p]Alcaraz is scheduled to play in the Shanghai Masters starting Wednesday.[/p][p]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.[/p][image alt="Carlos Alcaraz's run to the title" id="a8eea341-2166-42da-9c83-d918e1332942" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="ec143824-fb32-4a40-b5d4-a89639ff8b6c" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/alcaraz-garfia-c-UkhgIFEq/lehecka-j-6PlgfXKR/?mid=nBSdhTc4"]Check out the game summary with Flashscore.[/a][/p]