Carlos Alcaraz made the dream semi-final against Novak Djokovic at the French Open perfect with a demonstration of his extra class.
The top seeded Spaniard outclassed the highly rated fifth in the world rankings Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece in two sets on Tuesday evening and won 6: 2, 6: 1, 7: 6 (7: 5).
Djokovic had previously reached the top four for the twelfth time at the clay court classic in Paris. The Serbian tennis star defeated the Russian Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals 4: 6, 7: 6 (7: 0), 6: 2, 6: 4 and took the next step towards the desired sole Grand Slam title record.
Alcaraz provided one highlight after the other
Djokovic gave up the first set of the tournament. “He was the better player for two sets and then I played a perfect tie-break,” said Djokovic. “I am happy to have mastered this great challenge.” For the first time, he was really challenged for the entire game over 3:38 hours. However, the 36-year-old was able to rely on his nerves of steel again and also won the fifth tie-break in this edition of the classic clay court in Paris.
The 20-year-old Alcaraz completed his task faster in 2:12 hours. The US Open winner presented Tsitsipas with almost insurmountable problems at the beginning with his fast, variable game. The Greek had to fight hard for every point, Alcaraz provided one highlight after the other. Tsitsipas was able to counter it in the third set, and at the break to 4: 5 the spectators celebrated him as if he had won the match – Alcaraz was allowed to celebrate in the tie-break.
Last year, the Spaniard failed in the quarter-finals against Alexander Zverev. Djokovic, on the other hand, can continue to hope for his third French Open triumph and thus his 23rd title in a Grand Slam tournament. If he won the final, he would leave Spaniard Rafael Nadal behind. More often in the top four at the French Open than Djokovic was only Nadal, who reached the semifinals 15 times and is not playing in Paris this year due to injury.
