(Paris) This time, Carlos Alcaraz did not break down: while he was paralyzed last year against Novak Djokovic, the Spaniard perfectly controlled his nerves on Friday to beat future world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and win. reach the final of Roland-Garros for the first time where he will face Alexander Zverev.
After three consecutive failures in the semi-finals, the 27-year-old German also finally qualified for the final of the Major on earth, at the expense of outgoing double finalist Casper Ruud.
“You have to find happiness in suffering. Especially on clay and here, at Roland-Garros”: the first words of Alcaraz, after 4h09 of struggle to win 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 face to the Italian, say a lot about the effort made. Just like the time spent with his arms raised to the sky before coming to hug his opponent, then the long howl of joy and relief.
Announced almost as a final before its time, this duel kept its promises not so much for its level, unfortunately too inconsistent, but for its dramaturgy.
The Italian started the game at an absolutely astonishing level, to the point of pushing Alcaraz to show signs of irritation and/or frustration.
But Sinner was unable to maintain this level throughout the match, allowing his opponent not to fall into doubt after the loss of the first set and on the contrary to continue to believe in it.
“It’s probably the toughest match of my career. The two toughest matches of my young career, I played them against Jannik, with also the US Open 2022,” underlined the world No. 3 in reference to the quarter-final at Flushing Meadows that he won in five sets (two of which went to a tiebreaker) before lifting his first Grand Slam trophy a few days later.
But little by little, Sinner showed signs of physical weakness and the sniper from the first round began to put bullets next to the target. The quality of the game has declined overall.
“I saw that he was having problems,” confirmed Alcaraz. In the third round, we both had cramps. But I learned from my match last year against Djokovic. When it’s like that, you have to stay calm and keep fighting because the cramps will go away.”
For his part, Sinner had to have his right arm then both thighs massaged during the third round before winning.
Finally, it is with his touch shots (deadened shots and lobs often combined) that Alcaraz destabilized Sinner the most.
“I am very happy with what I did today: waiting for the right moment and knowing how to seize it when it presented itself at the end,” said Alcaraz.
As if it were a final, except that it was only a half…
Because we will still have to measure ourselves on Sunday against Zverev (4th) who has finally passed the obstacle of the semi-finals by taking his revenge on Ruud.
“I can’t describe the emotion. I have so many memories on this court, very good ones, but also very bad ones,” commented Zverev, referring in particular to the 2022 semi-final when he left the court in a wheelchair before the end of the second set after having seriously twisted his ankle and while he was making life difficult for Rafael Nadal.
Zverev, who arrived in Paris with a title in Rome, won 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 against Ruud – it is true, physically weakened – who had swept him away at the same time. stadium last year.
“Casper is too strong to play passively. Last year I did it and I lost too easily. This year I did it in the first round and I lost too easily. So I had to be more aggressive,” Zverev said.
The final on Sunday will produce a winner not seen since Stan Wawrinka in 2015.