World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz has crashed out of the Miami Open in a straight sets defeat to Sebastian Korda on Sunday. The Spaniard lost 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in what is just his second loss of the year.

The 22-year-old began 2026 by becoming the youngest-ever male player to complete the Career Grand Slam. Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in four sets to lift his first Australian Open title and seventh Grand Slam. The Spaniard then impressed again to win the ATP 500 in Doha a few weeks later.

But he then saw his winning streak end in the semi-finals of Indian Wells with a straight sets defeat to Daniil Medvedev. And just over a week later – Alcaraz has crashed out in just his second match in Miami.

The reigning Aussie Open, French Open and US Open champion looked to be heading for another straight sets defeat when Korda served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. However, his American opponent tightened up at that point, before regrouping in the third and serving it out after breaking at 3-3.

And Korda ackknowledged post-match that the victory, his first over a world No.1, ended up being more complicated than it was looking set to be when he served for the match first-time around.

The 25-year-old said, jokingly: “I took the scenic route today, I just wanted a little bit more court time. Carlos is Carlos, he does amazing things and gets himself out of situations nobody else does.

“I knew that coming in, I didn’t want to play that bad of a game at 5-4 but credit to him, he applies the pressure when he needs to and gets things done. I stayed with it, I kept believing and I tried to be a little more aggressive on the 3-3 service game and I found some great balls and took it and won with it.

“All I can take care of is how much I believe. I can only take care of my side of the net, whether I am paying really good or really bad I am going to stay there every point. I was going to battle and try and figure it out.”

Former doubles No.1 and brother of Andy Murray, Jamie, has heaped praise on Korda while anlaysing the match on Sky Sports.

He said: “You could see that from the first ball, he had a very clear intention of how he wanted to play out there. He wanted to use his big serve to set up opportunities for him to come forward, he mixed up the serve and volley a lot.

“Ultimately he deserved to win, I think he played a better match than Carlos today. I don’t think Carlos necessarily played bad but I think Korda limited his opportunities to be effective.

“Fair play, he had a disastrous end to the second set having played so well to that point and to come back strongly in the third set and finish it off…seriously impressive and great mental toughness. I am sure that will give him a lot of confidence going forward.”