After showing his good level against top opponents like the Canadian Denis Shapovalov and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the United States Open champion continued to show the growth of his tennis before the last hour, especially for his crossing with the other favorite theorist next Friday. . Only an oversight in the final straight of the third set gave some excitement and the clash lasted more than two hours.

Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz qualified for the first time for the semi-finals of Roland Garros, the second “Grand Slam” of the season and which is played on clay, after beating Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets without excessive suffering. 2, 6-1, 7-6(5), to face Serbian Novak Djokovic for a place in the final.

The Athens one was touted as the world number one’s first big test, but it showed he wasn’t quite comfortable with the ‘big’ Parisian and has the Murcian in his “black beast”. The El Palmar man maintained his invincibility against his rival after five games and did so with a high level and solidity that despaired the Australian Open finalist, which only worried him. when the early favorite had its worst moment.

After showing his good level against top opponents like the Canadian Denis Shapovalov and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the United States Open champion continued to show the growth of his tennis before the last hour, especially for his crossing with the other favorite theorist next Friday. . Only an oversight in the final straight of the third set gave some excitement and the clash lasted more than two hours.

The world number one was devastating with his “drive” (20 of his 36 winners), with which he hammered the backhand of his rival, unable to find his shots or his forehand or his powerful serve to be able to put up more resistance . His 30 unforced errors were a stone against the Spaniard.

Alcaraz started strong from the start and filled Tsitsipas with doubts who couldn’t get out of the “black hole” the Spaniard put him in, very solid from the bottom and also bringing his best shots. The Murcian broke early and the Greek found no response to the strength of the serve and his continuous mistakes, especially with his backhand. Another break, for love, helped the first seed close out the first set.

The expected reaction from the Athens player did not arrive. Weighted down by his failures (13 in this second round) and seeing himself already in the first match delivering his service again without winning a single point, he was never able to disturb Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil, who did not hasn’t lowered his level one iota. .

The 6-1 in the second set was a great demonstration of the difference for Philippe-Chatrier and it did not have the desired effect on the world number five, discouraged and without arguments. The Murcian didn’t lose his focus and quickly took advantage of it, but then suffered his worst game to lose serve when he served to end the duel in the tumult of the stands.

Tsitsipas reached “sudden death” and saw himself with the possibility of turning the situation around, but there Alcaraz again offered his best version to condemn and start thinking about the challenge that awaits him on Friday against the winner of 22 “Grand Slams”.

Credit: ESPN Sports