By Akshay Ramesh: If 2005 was Rafael Nadal’s Roland Garros, 2023 is slowly but surely turning out to be Carlos Alcaraz’s. The World No. 1 and the 20-year-old from Spain came up with a ruthless display of tennis, fiercely establishing his title credentials as he decimated World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in a one-sided quarter-final match at the Phillipe-Chatrier on Tuesday, June 6.
French Open Day 10: Highlights
Carlos Alcaraz raced into his first (of many) Roland Garros semi-final as the Wunderkind was in sensational form, winning the men’s singles quarter-final 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (5) in 2 hours and 12 minutes. And he did all the demolition job with a smile on his face!
The Chatrier crowd well and truly enjoyed witnessing the genius of Alcaraz in the night session, but the fans were a bit disappointed too at the match being that one-sided.
Alcaraz made Tsitsipas, the man who nearly won the French Open in 2021 and reached the semi-final on the red dirt of Paris a year ago, look like an unseeded rookie. Tsitsipas had no answers, whatsoever, to the brilliance of Alcaraz.
Alcaraz got 77 percentage wins on his first serve, compared to Tsitsipas’s 61, and was broken only once over three sets on a night where he showed the world how scarily good he can be in the years to come.
Alcaraz showcased some nerves when he fluffed his service game when he had the opportunity to close out the match at 5-3 in the 3rd set. The Chatrier crowd roared when Tsitsipas broke, finally. But the Greek’s joy was short-lived.
The response from Alcaraz was champion-like as he found his mojo back in the tie-breaker to close out the match in a little over 2 hours.
Alcaraz conceded that he lost a bit of focus after missing out on an opportunity to close out the match early in the 3rd set but added he was happy with the way he solved the problem.
“I lost my focus a little bit at the end of the third set,” Alcaraz said.
“I had a couple of match points on the return, [and then] serving for the match. He started to play, I would say, better. But of course I lost my focus a little bit.
“I was in trouble. I’m really happy to overcome that problem, still playing a great level, believing in myself, believing that I was going to win the third set.”
BLOCKBUSTER SEMI-FINAL!
The 20-year-old set up a sensational semi-final with 22-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, who worked his way past 11th seed Karen Khachanov in 4 sets in his quarter-final match earlier in the day.
Speaking about the big-ticket semi-final on Friday, Alcaraz said he is looking forward to taking on Djokovic, “one of the best” in the business.
“I really wanted to play this match as well. I always say that if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. Novak Djokovic right now is one of the best players in the world, so it’s going to be a really tough challenge for me. But I’m really looking forward to that match, playing such a great level,” Alcaraz said.
At one stage in the third set, which turned out to be the final set, the Chatrier crowd roared in appreciation, trying to encourage Tsitsipas. The cheers were so loud that it felt like the 24-year-old from Greece had converted his match point in a 5th-set tiebreaker. But all Tsitsipas did was win a game in the 3rd set and avoided a bagel. All the crowd’s efforts to boost the confidence of the underdog, get his adrenaline pumping went in vain.
If one was Djokovic, watching his semi-final opponent demolish a world-class clay-courter like that, he or she would have turned a bit fearful. But it’s Djokovic, whom we are talking about. Despite losing the only meeting he has had against Alcaraz, the Serb, a 2-time winner in Paris, will be itching to have a go at Alcaraz, which in turn makes for a mouth-watering semi-final at Roland Garros.
Alcaraz’s forehand, the on-the-run forehand passes, backhand slices, serve… everything was working like a well-oiled machine as Tsitsipas was left clueless on the center court. On two occasions, Tsitsipas blew off steam by having a go at his box at the Chatrier, and he was once penalised for a time violation as well.
None of that could fire the Greek up because he was up against an unstoppable force in his quarter-final outing.
Alcaraz’s game was firing on all cylinders, but the composure with which he maintained that peak intensity throughout the 3 sets told volumes about his ability at such a young age.
Alcaraz, who won the US Open as a teenager last year, is primed for success at Roland Garros. It will be a test of his character against the 22-time Grand Slam champion in the semi-final, but it would be unwise to bet against Alcaraz, who made his intentions clearer on Tuesday. ‘
Notably, it was also Alcaraz’s 5th straight win over Tsitsipas in as many meetings between them on the tour. As the on-air commentators’ pointed out, the one-sided defeat might just help him rethink his game and work on what he needs to diffuse the Alcaraz threat in the future.
