Alcaraz Reaches First Roland-Garros Final with Thrilling Win Over Sinner
PARIS (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz started poorly and fell behind early in his French Open semifinal against Jannik Sinner. Later, as both dealt with cramps under Friday's afternoon sun, Alcaraz trailed by two sets to one.
By the end of this intense rivalry's latest installment, an engaging five-setter lasting 4 hours and 9 minutes, Alcaraz had actually accumulated fewer total points, 147-145.
However, it's not the total points that matter. Alcaraz, who thrives on challenges, ultimately persevered, pulling out a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sinner to reach his first final in Paris. This achievement made the 21-year-old from Spain the youngest man to reach a Grand Slam title match on three different surfaces.
“You have to find joy in suffering. That’s the key, especially on clay at Roland Garros. Long rallies. Four-hour matches. Five sets,” Alcaraz said. “You have to fight and suffer, but as I’ve told my team many times, you have to enjoy suffering.”
Alcaraz has previously won championships at the U.S. Open in 2022 on hard courts and at Wimbledon in 2023 on grass.
Now, the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz will face No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany on the red clay Sunday. Zverev secured his spot by defeating No. 7 Casper Ruud of Norway with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory earlier. On the same day, Zverev’s domestic abuse case in Berlin concluded with an out-of-court settlement with his accuser, a former girlfriend.
"I’m happy that it’s over,” Zverev said about the court proceeding at his post-match news conference. “Yeah, nothing else more to say.”
When a reporter tried to follow up on the topic, Zverev responded, “We move on. I never want to hear another question about the subject again. That goes out to everybody.”
Ruud, who had started well, began to fade and was handed some pills by a doctor during a third-set changeover due to a stomach problem. Ruud, who leads the tour in match wins this season and has been the runner-up at majors three times, looked listless and stopped chasing shots.
Zverev finally broke through at Roland Garros after falling in the semifinals the past three years. This will be his second Grand Slam final: he previously lost in five sets to Dominic Thiem at the U.S. Open in 2020.
I was not mature enough. I was maybe too much of a kid still,” said Zverev, who is now 27. “I didn’t understand the significance of the occasion
This year’s French Open men’s final will be the first without Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, or Roger Federer since 2004.
Djokovic, the defending champion, withdrew before the quarterfinals after tearing the meniscus in his right knee and undergoing surgery this week. His early exit will cause him to drop from the top of the ATP rankings, allowing Sinner to rise to No. 2 despite his defeat on Friday.
“Obviously disappointed how it ended, but it’s part of my growth and the process,” said Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January for his first major trophy. “The winner is happy, and the loser tries to find a way to win next time.”
The 22-year-old Italian arrived in Paris with a lingering hip injury that forced him to skip the clay-court tournament in Rome. Alcaraz also missed that event due to a right forearm issue that made him hesitant to hit his powerful forehands at full force.
Both players experienced physical problems in the third set. Alcaraz’s right hand began to cramp, while Sinner had his right forearm and left thigh massaged by a trainer during changeovers.
This scenario brought to mind last year’s French Open semifinals, where Alcaraz started strong against Djokovic but later suffered from full-body cramps that rendered the rest of the match anticlimactic.
“I learned from last year’s match against Djokovic when I was in the same position as today,” Alcaraz said. “I know that, in these moments, you have to stay calm and keep going because the cramp will pass. You have to keep fighting.”
Alcaraz and Sinner are seen as the future of men’s tennis. The present isn’t too shabby either. Despite this match not being the most aesthetically pleasing of their nine head-to-head meetings — Alcaraz leads 5-4 — and combining for 102 unforced errors, there were moments of brilliance that sparked dueling chants of each player’s first name from the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd.
In the fifth set, with shadows covering more than half the court, Alcaraz moved ahead by sliding until he could reach across his body to snap a backhand passing winner for a break point. A forehand winner — one of his 30 in the match — made it 2-0 at the 3 1/2-hour mark, earning a shout of “Vamos!” from his coach, 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Soon, it was 3-0, and Alcaraz was on his way.
“It was a great match. In the sets he won, he played better at the crucial points,” Sinner said. “That was the key.”
Both players hit the ball with such force that the sound elicited gasps from spectators mid-rally.
Sinner, in a rust-colored shirt a few shades darker than the clay, started the match strong, barely missing and stretching his long limbs to reach nearly everything Alcaraz offered. Alcaraz, with his right arm covered by a white sleeve, delivered powerful shots to the corners, punctuated with grunts, and Sinner somehow retrieved them, flipping the ball back to draw mistakes.
Sinner led 4-0, and it took Alcaraz 20 minutes just to put a “1” beside his name on the scoreboard. The second set began inauspiciously for Alcaraz, who fell behind 2-0.
I told myself,” Alcaraz said, “that it’s going to be a long match.
Here's how Alcaraz prevailed: He had a 32-23 edge in winners over the last two sets.
With his strokes gaining strength and the fans getting louder, Alcaraz advanced at a tournament he grew up watching on TV at home in Spain as his countryman Nadal collected a record 14 titles.
Not that it was easy.
It’s one of the toughest matches I’ve played, for sure,” Alcaraz said. The toughest matches of my short career have been against Jannik
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