3 milestones achieved by Stefanos Tsitsipas following his victory in Monte-Carlo

Stefanos Tsitsipas put an end to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina's dream run at the 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters, beating the Spaniard in straight sets in the final. The defending champion pulled off a dominant 6-3, 7-6(3) victory to secure his eighth ATP tour title as well as his second Masters 1000 crown.

The title run should come as a major confidence booster for the Greek, since his performances this year have largely underwhelmed. Barring a semi-final result at the Australian Open and a runner-up finish at the Rotterdam Open, the World No. 5's outings have been mostly disappointing.

But a successful title defense on the French Riviera has brought the 23-year-old back into the conversation as one of the favorites for the French Open.

Without further ado, here are a few milestones the Greek achieved with his triumph in Monte-Carlo:

#1 Stefanos Tsitsipas is only the sixth player in the Open Era to defend his title at the Monte-Carlo Masters

Only five players other than Stefanos Tsitsipas have defended their title in Monte-Carlo

Before Stefanos Tsitsipas, only five men in the Open Era had managed to defend their title at the Monte-Carlo Masters. Ilie Nastase did so first, completing the "three-peat" between 1971 and 1973.

Bjorn Borg, the man Nastase defeated in his 1973 title run, then won the event back-to-back in 1979 and 1980.

Former World No. 1 Thomas Muster became the third player to achieve the feat, triumphing in the 1995 and 1996 editions. Juan Carlos Ferrero took home the trophy in 2002 and 2003, while 11-time champion Rafael Nadal has successfully defended his title nine times (2006-2012, 2017-2018).

Interestingly, all the aforementioned players except Muster went on to win the French Open the same year they defended their Monte-Carlo title.

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#2 Fourth man to defend his first Masters 1000 title in the Open Era

Rafael Nadal was the last player to defend his first Masters 1000 title before Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas became the fourth man to defend their first Masters 1000 title in the Open Era, joining a prestigious list that contains Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal.

Boris Becker triumphed at the Stockholm Open in 1990 and defended his title the following year, defeating Stefan Edberg in the final. It should be noted that Becker had previously won the Stockholm Open in 1988 and other "Grand Prix" events, but the Masters series did not officially begin until 1990.

Hewitt ended his career with only two Masters 1000 titles to his name, winning the 2002 and 2003 Indian Wells Masters back-to-back. While the Australian dismantled Tim Henman in the first final, he disposed of Gustavo Kuerten in the second to defend his title.

Nadal, on the other hand, won his first Masters 1000 title at the 2005 Monte-Carlo Masters, defeating Guillermo Coria in the final. The Spaniard won every edition of the tournament from 2006 until 2013, racking up eight titles on the trot to etch his name into the history books.

#3 First non-Big 4 player to defend a Masters 1000 title since 2003

Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first non-Big 4 player to defend a Masters 1000 title since 2003

Since Juan Carlos Ferrero won back-to-back Monte-Carlo titles in 2002-03, only four players had ever succeeded in defending a Masters 1000 title. These included Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Many high-profile names managed to win ATP 1000 tournaments in the Big 4 era. However, the task of doing it back-to-back proved impossible until Stefanos Tsitsipas achieved it on Sunday.

The players who came closest were: Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and John Isner.

Zverev fell agonizingly short at the Rome Masters, winning the 2017 edition and losing the final in 2018. Daniil Medvedev won the 2020 Paris Masters and finished as the runner-up in 2021. John Isner triumphed at the 2018 Miami Masters and fell one short the next year.