Carlos Alcaraz took another solid step forward in his quest to defend his title at Roland Garros, after his opponent Lorenzo Musetti was forced to retire in the fourth set of their semi-final on the evening of June 6.
The 22-year-old Spaniard was leading Musetti 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0, 2-0 when the Italian decided to retire after 2 hours and 25 minutes. Musetti had to seek physiotherapy treatment on his left leg at 0-5 in the third set, and despite trying to continue, he was unable to finish the match.
Musetti left the semi-final due to injury (Photo: Getty).
“It’s never nice to win like this. Lorenzo is a great player. He had an incredible clay-court season. He is one of the few players who has reached at least the semi-finals at all the biggest events on clay. I think there have been only four players who have done that before. I wish him all the best, a speedy recovery and hopefully we will see him play again soon,” Alcaraz said in an on-court interview.
With this achievement, Alcaraz became the fifth youngest player in the Open Era to reach five Grand Slam finals. He is also the third active male player to reach this milestone, after big names such as Novak Djokovic (37 finals) and Daniil Medvedev (6 finals).
Playing under the closed roof at Court Philippe Chatrier, Alcaraz made his attacking intentions clear from the start, moving inside the court and hitting powerful shots from both sides. Although Musetti responded impressively, absorbing the power and winning the opening set, Alcaraz stuck to his game plan and eventually produced some of his best shots on his way to consecutive finals at a major clay-court tournament.
“The first two sets were really tough. I had chances to break him throughout the match but I couldn’t take advantage of them. He played really well. When I won the second set, I felt a little bit more relieved. Then in the third set, I knew what I had to do from the start: I had to push him to the limit and try to attack. I didn’t let him dominate the match more and just be myself,” Alcaraz said.
“I was calmer. I could see better and was able to play great tennis at the beginning of the third set,” he added.
Alcaraz is in the Roland Garros final for the second consecutive year (Photo: Getty).
Alcaraz has improved his head-to-head record against Musetti to 6-1, including two wins en route to ATP Masters 1000 titles in Monte Carlo and Rome this year. He now boasts an impressive 33-2 record on clay since May last year.
For his part, Musetti can also boast of an excellent clay court season this year. He had the distinction of becoming only the fifth player to reach the semi-finals of all ATP Masters 1000 events on clay and Roland Garros in the same year, joining legends such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev.
Aiming to extend his perfect 4-0 record in Grand Slam finals, Alcaraz awaits an opponent in ATP No. 1 Jannik Sinner, a 3-0 winner over three-time champion Novak Djokovic.
“I will definitely not miss the second semi-final. This match is one of the best matches we have in tennis today. Against Djokovic, it will be a great tennis match. As a big tennis fan, I will watch this match, I will enjoy the match. Obviously I will learn tactics from that match, but I think we will all enjoy this match because they will play great tennis," Alcaraz affirmed.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/alcaraz-lan-thu-hai-lien-tiep-vao-chung-ket-roland-garros-20250607062132477.htm
Comment (0)