He fell 3-1 behind in the first set against Musetti after miscuing a forehand, while the Italian hit seven winners to take an early lead in the match.
It didn’t take long, however, for Alcaraz to get back into the contest, breaking Musetti’s serve twice and wrapping up the second set inside an hour and 20 minutes of play.
The deciding set was even more one-sided with Musetti clearly struggling with an injury, even after getting treatment at 0-3 down. It meant that Alcaraz could breeze through the closing stages, hitting the winning forehand into an open court with Musetti unable to move freely.
“Hopefully, if everything goes well, I will be playing this tournament for the next 10, 15 years, so let’s see if I can get at least one more,” said the 21-year-old. “All I’m thinking about right now is just to enjoy this moment and let’s see in the future.”
Alcaraz, who suffered a surprise second-round exit against Belgium’s David Goffin at the Miami Open in his last tournament, jumps above Alexander Zverev to second in the world rankings.
Musetti rises from 16th to a career-high 11th in the rankings having defeated top-10 seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur on his way to the final.