Carlos Alcaraz is ended the year on top…

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star needed less than 90 minutes to secure the year-ending No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis during his latest match at the ATP Finals..

Alcaraz needed one more win to beat Jannik Sinner to the No. 1 spot, and he eased to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Italian Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday to sweep his group at the season-ending event for the top eight players.

“It means the world to me, to be honest,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “The year No. 1 is always a goal. To be honest, at the beginning of the year, I saw that the No. 1 [was] really, really far away, with Jannik there, winning almost every tournament he plays.

“From the middle of the season till now, I put the goal for the No. 1 because I thought it was there … and finally, I got it. For me, it means everything, the work that we put every day during the whole season, up and downs … so I’m really proud about my team and myself.”

It’s the second time in his career that Alcaraz has ended the year at the top of the rankings.

Alcaraz became the youngest player to finish a year at No. 1 in 2022, when he achieved the feat as a 19-year-old.

Alcaraz had to win three of his matches at the ATP Finals to finish No. 1, while Sinner had to go undefeated to defend his title to have a chance.

Alcaraz – who admitted he was feeling nervous at the beginning of the match –

didn’t give Sinner that chance as he swept aside Musetti despite a partisan home crowd, sealing the result on his third match point.

That was his third win in the Jimmy Connors group, and Alcaraz will face the winner of Friday’s match between Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Saturday’s semifinal.