Carlos Alcaraz expects to relinquish his grip on the world number one spot in the coming weeks, despite making a superb start to his Monte-Carlo Masters campaign.

Alcaraz, who endured a difficult run of form during the Sunshine Swing, as he slumped out of the Indian Wells Open and Miami Masters early on, made light work of Sebastian Baez on Tuesday.

The Spaniard triumphed 6-1 6-3 in just 70 minutes.

Alcaraz is not just battling to defend his title in Monaco, but also hold onto the number one spot in the ATP rankings, with in-form Jannik Sinner chasing it down.

However, Alcaraz anticipates he will let the position slip sooner rather than later.

"If I'm honest, I'm going to lose the world number one ranking," he said.

"I don't know if it will be in this tournament or the next, but I have a lot of points to defend and it's going to be very difficult to keep them all.

"Even if I do defend them, Jannik is going to pick up points here without having to defend anything, so my approach is simple: try to play my best and see what happens.

"Right now, the number one ranking isn't something I'm overly concerned about. My priority is to feel good on clay and see how this season unfolds. From there, we'll see."

14 - Carlos Alcaraz has claimed his 14th consecutive win on clay, equalling his longest win streak on this surface at ATP-level which he claimed between Barcelona-Madrid-Roland Garros R16 in 2022. Form. #RolexMonteCarloMasters | @ROLEXMCMASTERS@atptour pic.twitter.com/lFalDkYsEL

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) April 7, 2026

Alcaraz was, however, impressed with the level he displayed against Baez.

"To be honest, I was surprised by my level. I thought I was going to play a bit worse, but I'm happy with everything I did," he added.

"Maybe there were a couple of things in the second set that I didn't do quite right, although I didn't let my opponent get back into the match."

Data Debrief: Class on clay

That is now 14 straight wins for Alcaraz on clay courts, which equals the longest streak of his career.

Alcaraz won 22 matches on the surface last season, suffering just one defeat, while he is 18-2 overall for 2026.