Carlos Alcaraz overtakes one of Andy Murray’s career records after winning the Japan Open title

The success, which follows titles at the Australian Open and Doha this year, has also helped the Spaniard overtake a career record from tennis legend Andy Murray. In fact, he is now behind only the iconic Big Three in the list for the most ATP 500 titles claimed of all time after his Japan Open glory.

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Carlos Alcaraz overtakes Andy Murray’s ATP 500 titles record

Following his superb success at the Japan Open, Alcaraz now boasts 10 ATP 500 titles. That is one more than Scottish hero Murray. He does, however, remain behind Roger Federer (16), Rafael Nadal (15) and Novak Djokovic (14) in the all-time list. At the time of writing, Djokovic was battling Alex de Minaur in the final of the China Open, another ATP 500 tournament.

Given that Alcaraz is still only 23 years old, it is undoubtedly a list that he can rapidly climb in the very near future. Up next for the Spanish star, however, is the Shanghai Masters, an ATP 1000 tournament. The main draw gets underway on Wednesday, with second seed Alcaraz receiving a bye into the second round.

Carlos Alcaraz successfully defends sixth ATP title

Alcaraz can be extremely proud of another successful run in Tokyo, where he was out to defend his title. The ATP superstar has just done exactly that, and it represents the sixth time that he has defended a title in his glittering career, as per OptaAce. The Spaniard also achieved the feat at Barcelona (2022-23), Madrid (2022-23), Indian Wells (2023-24), Wimbledon (2023-24), and Roland Garros (2024-25).

He is, however, the first man to go back-to-back in Tokyo since Pete Sampras back in 1993-94. It’s a truly phenomenal feat from Alcaraz, who has shown time and again that he has very little problem entering tournaments as the defending champion.

And the stunning statistics certainly don’t end there. The iconic figure has now extended his record at ATP 500 level to 21-0, last losing in the 2025 Barcelona Open final to Holger Rune. He battled past Lehecka in Tokyo after 96 minutes, having previously beaten Alex Michelsen, Matteo Arnaldi, Denis Shapovalov and Jaume Munar.

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