Carlos Alcaraz hit a new milestone despite pulling out of the Shanghai Masters as he extended his lead at the top of the rankings and spent another week as the world No. 1. The Spanish star picked up an ankle injury during the recent ATP 500 event in Tokyo, but played on and ended the week as the champion. Then, he skipped Shanghai.

Jannik Sinner had been breathing down Alcaraz's neck, sitting less than 600 points behind his rival in the rankings. But Sinner, who was the defending champion in Shanghai, was forced to retire in the third round, and it has widened the gap at the top.

With the rankings updating on Monday, Alcaraz has officially surpassed Andy Murray in all-time weeks at No. 1. The six-time Major winner is spending his 42nd week in the top spot, overtaking Murray's total of 41 weeks.

Alcaraz is now in the driver's seat when it comes to securing the year-end No. 1 ranking. Now that last year's Shanghai Masters points have been removed, Alcaraz has a total of 11,340, and Sinner has 10,000.

But the Italian still has plenty of opportunities to close the gap again. Sinner is set to compete in the Vienna Open, an ATP 500 event, and the Paris Masters. He skipped the Paris Masters in 2024, while Alcaraz reached the last 16, and will defend 100 ranking points there.

For now, Alcaraz at least has bragging rights over Murray, whom he previously joked had beaten him in multiple roles and sports.

The retired three-time Major winner defeated a teenage Alcaraz at Indian Wells in 2021, and then told Alcaraz that he was a "future world No. 1". The Spaniard got his revenge a few weeks later, winning their match in Vienna.

Murray enjoyed a brief stint coaching his old rival, Novak Djokovic, at the start of the year, and was in Djokovic's box when he beat Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarter-final. And Murray got on the golf course with the 22-year-old during Wimbledon this year.

They played three rounds of golf, winning one each, before the two-time Olympic champion got the decisive victory.

During an on-court interview at Wimbledon, Alcaraz explained: "Yeah, I mean, I had to show up. I have to say, he beat me so I just - yeah. We are playing in his home so it would be really bad for him, you know, if I beat him so I let him win once.

"But yeah, I lost against him as a player, as a coach, on the golf course, so I'm not going to play against him any more!"

Alcaraz can at least take solace from the fact that he's spent more time in the world No. 1 position than Murray.