Alcaraz Moves One Step Closer To Successful Roland-Garros Title Defense

Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, June 6, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

As the Roland-Garros men’s singles semifinals unfolded Friday, there was an Olympic flavor to be found in the lineup that comprised the last four competing for this year’s Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy. That’s because all three Paris Olympics medalists from last July were on hand plus World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who took on Olympic champion Novak Djokovic. The other semifinal matched up silver medalist and defending Roland-Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz against bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti.

The reigning French Open champion Alcaraz placed himself just one win away from defending his title when he defeated World No. 7 Musetti by retirement after two hours and 25 minutes of play on Court Philippe-Chatrier with the roof closed. Alcaraz led two sets-to-one, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0, and was ahead 2-0 in the fourth set when the 23-year-old Italian was unable to continue. It was the 21st win on clay in 22 clay-court matches this season for Alcaraz.

On Sunday, Alcaraz will face Sinner for the French Open title, after the top-seeded Italian defeated Djokovic, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3), in three hours and 16 minutes. Sinner will be playing for his first Roland-Garros title, while looking to win his third consecutive major. As for  Alcaraz, he will be pursuing his fifth major crown – and second at Roland-Garros.

In the first semifinal, trailing 0-5 in the third set and, and again before the start of the fourth set, Musetti received physio treatment on the inside of his left thigh. He continued to reach for his leg but by early in the fourth set, it became too painful for him to continue to play.

“It’s never great getting through or winning a match like this,” Alcaraz said afterward, during his on-court interview. “Lorenzo is a great player. He has had an incredible clay season. [He is] one of the few players who achieved at least the semifinals at all the biggest events on clay. I think just four players had done that before. … I always wish him all the best, a quick recovery, and hopefully we are going to enjoy his tennis pretty soon.”

During his post-match news conference, Musetti spoke of his injury that led to his retirement: “I felt at the beginning of the third when I was serving, I start losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind, and definitely was going worse and worse, so I decided to stop. I think was the right decision to make, even if it was not what I wanted. Tomorrow I will do exams.”

The World No. 2 Alcaraz brought a 5-1 advantage in his head-to-head against Musetti into their semifinal match, including two wins earlier during the European spring clay season en route to winning ATP Masters 1000 titles in Monte-Carlo and Rome.

After winning, the 22-year-old Spaniard improved to 33-2 on clay since May of last year, including 18-1 in Paris, and he’s now the fifth-youngest man to reach five major finals in the Open Era. This season he’s 21-1 on clay with his only setback coming in the final of the ATP 500-series event at Barcelona.

Against Musetti, Alcaraz struck big from both wings – coming inside the baseline against Musetti – and by the end of the semifinal he had won 47 percent (48 of 102) of his receiving points to go along with winning 72 percent (34 of 47) of his first-serve points. Alcaraz produced 35 winners to 32 unforced errors, compared to 22 winners and 33 unforced errors by Musetti. He converted six of 12 break points and outpointed the Italian No. 2 104-79.

“The first two sets were really tough,” Alcaraz said. “I had chances to break his serve in the match. I couldn’t make the most of them. He was playing great tennis. When I won the second set, there was a little bit of relief, and then in the third set I knew what I had to do at the beginning: Just push him to the limit and try to be aggressive. Not let him dominate the game more and just be myself.

“I was calmer. I could see more clearly and could play great tennis at the beginning of the third set.”

If there’s any solace for Musetti, it’s this: He completed the European spring clay season by becoming just the fifth player to reach the semifinals of all three clay ATP Masters 1000 events – Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome – and Roland-Garros in the same year, joining, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev.

Sinner sets up No. 1 versus No. 2 in Sunday’s final

In the second semifinal, with the roof open on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Sinner defeated the 38-year-old Djokovic for the fifth time in their nine career meetings. It was his first win over the Serbian outside of hard courts and it came in their first meeting on clay since 2021. They are 2-2 head-to-head in majors.

Sinner increased his winning streak to 20 straight in Grand Slam tournaments, which began when he won the US Open last year and continued with his triumph at the Australian Open last January. He’s the youngest to win 20 straight matches in majors since Pete Sampras of the United States in 1993-94. Sinner has won his last 29 sets played at the Grand Slam level since losing the second set to Holger Rune in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Coming in, Djokovic had dropped just one set en route to his 13th Roland-Garros semifinal. He had hoped to create history by becoming the oldest finalist in Roland-Garros history – breaking the record of 1930 finalist Bill Tilden of the United States, who was 37 – a record that’s stood for 95 years. However, the 23-year-old Sinner was up to the task and denied the three-time French Open champion from advancing to his record-extending 38th Grand Slam final – eighth in Paris – and to extend his nine-match winning streak that began last month during his run to his 100th tour-level title in Geneva.

As it happened, Sinner dominated many of the early baseline exchanges and dropped just three points on his serve in winning the 47-minute opening set. Next, Djokovic finally broke Sinner for the first time in 46 return games to level the 69-minute second set at 5-all, but Sinner broke back and won the final to games to go up two-sets-to-none.

Then, on serve through the first nine games of the third set, Djokovic gained a break point on Sinner’s serve at 15-40, ahead 5-4. He raised his arms to get the crowd fired up behind him. However, Sinner saved the first break point with a cross-court volley winner, then gained deuce with a service winner. With two break points erased, Djokovic gained another break point after Sinner hit a backhand wide, but the Serbian great wasn’t able to capitalize on it. After saving three break points, Sinner went on to hold his serve during the nine-minute game for 5-all as the match approached the three-hour plateau. Then, Djokovic made it 6-5 as he clocked a 188 km/h first serve with a heavy topspin into the ad court – his fourth ace of the evening – and Sinner held at 30 to force a third-set tie-break.

In the tie-break, Sinner went ahead 2-0 following a couple of backhand errors by Djokovic. He increased his lead to 3-0 on a forehand unforced error – after Djokovic whiffed on an overhead smash. Perhaps, he lost it looking up at the lights? With his back against the wall, Djokovic won the next two points on a couple of hitting errors by Sinner to trail 3-2. However, Sinner increased his lead to 4-2 on a forehand forced error off a second serve, in which Djokovic hit a forehand wide left.

Sinner wasted no time to move ahead further, winning his fifth point after Djokovic couldn’t control a powerful cross-court return. He gained match point after a forehand unforced error by Djokovic. Then, the former World No. 1 and 24-time major champion saved a match point on a forehand error, but Sinner triumphed on his second match point, winning 7-3 on a backhand unforced error by Djokovic. The victory was the 18th of the season by Sinner in 19 outings – 11-1 on clay.

Statistically, Sinner won most of the key indicators. He won 79 percent (45 of 57) of his first-serve points, hit 44 overall winners – including 10 aces – to 36 unforced errors, compared to 35 winners and 53 unforced errors by Djokovic, converted three of nine break points while saving five of six, and outpointed Djokovic 120-105. In short rallies (1-4 shots), Sinner outpointed Djokovic’s 64-52 and he also prevailed in the longer rallies (9 shots-and-over), winning 26 points to 19 for his opponent.

“It was such a special occasion for me, playing against Novak in the semifinal of a Grand Slam,” Sinner said during his on-court interview. “It’s just amazing, and I had to step up and play the best tennis I could. I’m very happy how I handled the situation, but this shows again what a role model he is for all of us and especially for us young players.

“What he is doing is incredible and I wish him only the best for the rest of the season. I think we are all very lucky to see him playing such high-level tennis, it’s amazing.”

Looking back, Sinner won with superior servicing and groundstroke consistency. By the end, it was his power and precision that got him over the finish line and into his third straight major final. He’s the first Italian man to reach a Roland-Garros final since Adriano Panatta won the 1976 title – that’s 49 years ago. Meanwhile, the 24-time major champion Djokovic – stuck on 24 since winning the 2023 US Open – will have to wait until at least Wimbledon to reach his 25th Grand Slam title.

Afterward, during his post-match news conference, Djokovic spoke about the crowd that filled Court Philippe-Chatrier, which he called “incredible.” He said: “I don’t think I’ve ever received this much support from this stadium in my career in big matches against the best players in the world. I’m very, very honored to experience that. Obviously, I’m not the happiest because of the loss. I tried to show my gratitude to the crowd because they were terrific in the moments when, it seemed, like things were going his way. They picked me up and encouraged me – and gave me strength – to keep going and fight to the last ball, which I did.”

Around Stade Roland-Garros

• The second men’s doubles semifinal took place on Court Suzanne-Lenglen between No. 8 seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain and No. 9 seeds Christian Harrison and Evan King of the United States – and it was won the British duo, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (7), in two hours and 40 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen Friday afternoon.

Salisbury and Skupski combined to hit seven aces, produced 49 winners and converted three of six break points. They outpointed the American pair 119-109.

The Britons will oppose No. 5 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in Saturday evening’s final on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

• The women’s doubles semifinals took place on Court Simonne-Mathieu. In the first match between two unseeded teams, Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia defeated Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Eri Hozumi of Japan, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, in two hours and 46 minutes. In the second match, No. 2 seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy routed No. 4 seeds Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider of Russia, 6-0, 6-1, in 61 minutes. The winners will meet in the final Sunday on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

• In the quad wheelchair doubles final, top-seeded Guy Sasson of Israel and Niels Vink of the Netherlands defeated Ahmet Kaplan of Turkey and Donald Ramphadi of South Africa, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 29 minutes on Court 7.

• In the women’s wheelchair doubles final, unseeded Yui Kamiji of Japan and Kgothatso Montjane of South Africa won the title over No. 2 seeds Li Xiaohui and Wang Ziying of Ching, 4-6, 7-5, 10-7, in one hour and 43 minutes on Court 7.

Friday’s Roland-Garros results

Saturday’s Roland-Garros order of play

By the numbers

Carlos Alcaraz is the ATP Tour win leader with 36. He also leads the ATP Tour in most wins on clay with 21.

“Quotable …”

“My first final here I was super nervous, and I kind of wrote myself off before the match even happened. Obviously, here I have a lot more confidence just from playing a Grand Slam final before and doing well in one.

“Yeah, I think going into Saturday, I’ll just give it my best shot and try to be as calm and relaxed as possible.”

– World No. 2 Coco Gauff of the United States, during her post-match news conference Thursday, looking back on her first Roland-Garros final in 2022, her US Open title win in 2023, plus looking ahead to Saturday’s final against World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

 

Search

Brigitte Urban
Tennis photographer
camera lens

International Blogs

Dietmar Kaspar

Tommy Haas: „Bei den Grand Slams bin ich Traditionalist“

June 4, 2025

Michael Dickens

The Warrior: Rafael Nadal And His Kingdom Of Clay

May 16, 2025

Marc Raffel

Zum 11. Mal ATP Tennis an Rhein & Ruhr in Meerbusch

March 28, 2025

Florian Heer

Arzel Mevellec über die Entwicklung des Rwanda Challenger: „Wir lernen jedes Mal dazu!”

March 5, 2025

Podcast

Categories