Carlos Alcaraz has reached a second successive French Open final after Lorenzo Musetti retired hurt in the fourth set of the first semi-final.
For much of the first set, Alcaraz was made to suffer. It was Musetti who raced out of the blocks and managed to win the set 6-4 after breaking the Spaniard’s serve in the final game.
Alcaraz made hard work of the second set too. He broke to lead 6-5 but when serving it out, came unstuck as the Italian simply refused to lie down and broke the world number two straight away to force a tie-breaker.
After racing through the tie-breaker, Alcaraz seized all of the momentum. The third set was a non-contest, with last year’s champion winning 6-0 and in the fourth, Musetti, who needed treatment twice, threw the towel in at 2-0.
Carlos Alcaraz delivers an immediate reaction after beating Lorenzo Musetti
This was far from vintage Alcaraz, but he showed enough to suggest that he will take some stopping in Sunday’s final, no matter who comes through tonight’s match.
After Musetti decided to call time on the French Open semi-final through injury, Alcaraz was classy and stood to applaud his opponent off the court as he scooted off to receive some more treatment.
Alcaraz said: “It’s never great getting through or winning the match like this. Lorenzo is a great player. He has done an incredible clay season. He is one of the few players who has achieved at least the semi-finals in the biggest event on clay.
“I think just four players have done it before and he is the fifth player. That shows what an incredible player he is and I wish him all the best. A quick recovery and I’m pretty sure we are going to enjoy his tennis pretty soon.”
Alcaraz claimed the third set, which he won 6-0, proved pivotal, and he also made some comments on that particular.
He continued: “The first two sets were really tough. I had chances to break his serve to be up in the match but I could not make the most of it. He was playing great tennis.
“I won the second set with a little bit of relief. In the third set, I knew what I had to do, pushing him to the limit, just trying to be aggressive and not let him dominate the game. I was calmer. I could see the court more clearly and play great tennis at the beginning of the third set.
Carlos Alcaraz shares how he feels ahead of Sunday’s French Open Final
The youngster is going to be in fine form ahead of the final and now, he’s going to be well rested too after being on the court for a little over two hours.
Either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic will come through tonight’s match to play Alcaraz and now it looks like it will be a really closely contested final.
Alcaraz will see the clay at Roland Garros as his best chance to stack up a large portion of his career Grand Slams, much like Rafael Nadal, and now he has a golden chance to win the crown again on Sunday.
Ahead of the match, he said: “Right now I am feeling great. I am feeling good. It’s been three intense weeks but I just have one more step to take. I am feeling great, I am feeling I am playing great tennis, I am going to give everything on Sunday.
“I have been doing great things in this tournament and right now it is time to give everything, my 100% and go for the final on Sunday.”
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