French Open: Carlos Alcaraz storms into final after beating Jannik Sinner in thriller

Third seed Carlos Alcaraz stormed into his maiden final in the French Open after he defeated soon-to-be World No.1 Jannik Sinner in the semis. On Friday, June 7.

The Spaniard took 4 hours and 9 minutes to win the match 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 at Philippe-Chatrier. Last year, Alcaraz’s dream run at Roland Garros ended after losing to Novak Djokovic, who pulled out of the ongoing clay-court major due to a knee injury. This time around, he made sure that he did not let the opportunity pass by.

Alcaraz, who holds the record for the youngest World No.1, will now face the winner of the other semi-final between Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud. Alcaraz also became the second-youngest men’s singles finalist at Roland Garros since 2000, only behind the legendary Rafael Nadal, who earlier crashed out in the opening round. He is also the youngest to reach Grand Slam finals on all 3 surfaces at the age of 21. Andre Agassi, Bjorn Borg, Nadal, and Jim Courier all did it at the age of 22.

The 22-year-old Sinner was in command right from the word go after he earned a double break to go 3-0 up in the opening set. The Italian star eventually closed out the set in 40 minutes. Although Alcaraz earned a break back, he could not push enough to make a comeback.

Carlos Alcaraz rallies back
In the second set, Sinner again seized the initiative with an early break of serve to go 2-0. This time around, Alcaraz made sure that he shifted the pressure back to Sinner by winning 4 games in a row with 2 breaks of serve.

But Sinner showed nerves to take the third set with a couple of crucial breaks. In the fourth set, Alcaraz was again back to his very best as he not only earned a break, but did not give Sinner a single chance to break his serve. The youngster played some brilliant tennis to take the match into the fifth and final set.

Alcaraz put the skids under Sinner with an early service break. Sinner once came close to getting the break back, but he fell short. At 4-5, 30-40, Sinner saved a match point to make it 40-40. Alcaraz fetched himself another match point, but failed to convert it. However, he converted the third after an unforced error from Sinner brought the curtains down on the set and the match.