Paris, June 4 (EFE).- World no. 3 Carlos Alcaraz sped into the semifinals of French Open tennis on Tuesday, beating ninth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 to set up a tie against world no. 1 in-waiting Jannik Sinner.
Alcaraz and Sinner, who on the same day added their 50th victory in Grand Slams, the first tennis players born in the 21st century to achieve this, will play on Friday in the youngest semi-final since Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray at the 2008 US Open.
It will be the most anticipated duel of the tournament following world no. 1 Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal due to a nagging knee injury.
If Sinner did not have many difficulties in defeating Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, the 10th seed, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(3), Alcaraz signed a similar score against Tsitsipas in two hours and 15 minutes.
“I think it was a really good match. I played great. I think there weren’t up and downs in my game. I controlled very well my emotions, myself on the court,” the Spaniard said after the match.
“I was really calm in the moments I had to be and I’m really happy with the way that I managed everything, the way that I played and to play a semifinal here again in Roland-Garros.”
Alcaraz broke serve to start the match and never trailed in the first two sets.
He conceded just four points on his serve in the opener and accumulated a 6-3, 4-1 lead for himself in just about an hour of play before his Greek opponent found some spark to win three straight games and level the set.
Any hopes Tsitsipas had to win the set disappeared in the tiebreak following three errors by him and two winners from Alcaraz, which gave the Spaniard a 5-1 cushion.
The two-time Grand Slam champion pocketed two sets in just an hour and a half.
Tsitsipas had the chance to stage a comeback in the final game of the third set when Alcaraz missed two forehands to trail 0-30.
But three missed returns and a final forehand winner took Alcaraz safely through to the semi-final.
“It’s a really difficult challenge. Right now, he’s the best player in the world, or the player who is playing the best tennis right now,” Alcaraz said ahead of his semifinal showdown with Sinner.
“Thanks to him, I push myself to be better, to be a better player, to give my 100 percent every day, to wake up in the morning and want to improve my game to try to beat him.” EFE
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