Carlos Alcaraz flattens Tommy Paul to reach French Open semis, Lorenzo Musetti through
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz celebrates his victory over Tommy Paul of the US. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS - Carlos Alcaraz continued his French Open title defence with a display of breathtaking brutality for a 6-0 6-1 6-4 victory over American 12th seed Tommy Paul and a spot in the Roland Garros semi-finals on June 3.
The second seed has searched in vain for his usual sublime form on Parisian clay this year, needing four sets in his last three matches to dismiss determined opponents, but he had no trouble on a balmy evening on Court Philippe Chatrier.
"It was like I could close my eyes and everything went in," Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
"My feeling was unbelievable, I tried to hit my shots at 100%... today was just one of those matches where everything went in.
"We were in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros and these matches aren't easy. I've lost to him twice and against Tommy, matches are very difficult. That helped me focus on my tennis and try not to go down or let him get into the match."
Alcaraz motored through the opening set without dropping a game and grabbed his fourth break early in the second set after sparing Paul the ignominy of another bagel and the 22-year-old pulled further away to double his lead in only 53 minutes.
He glided across the red clay while delivering punishing shots, knocking the racket out of Paul's hands at one point with a thunderous effort, before finally facing some resistance in the third set.
Former junior French Open champion Paul stayed level with Alcaraz until 4-4 but soon faded away and the holder closed out the victory to book a clash with Italian eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti in the semi-finals.
Musetti, 23, battled past American Frances Tiafoe, winning 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 against the 15th seed after over two hours 45 minutes.
For both Musetti and Tiafoe – twice a US Open semi-finalist – it was a first last-eight appearance at Roland Garros. And both struggled to find their feet.
'It was pretty windy and not that easy to find the right feelings with the ball, but I managed to win this incredible third set, which was probably the key of the match,' said the Italian.
Musetti's serve proved to be a major weapon on the day as he fired down eight aces with an 81 per cent success rate on his first serve in gusty conditions in Paris.
He also saved two of the three break points engineered by Tiafoe, who had 51 unforced errors to the Italian's 32.
Italy's Lorenzo Musetti speaking to the US' Frances Tiafoe after winning their quarter-final match.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Italian is now 13-4 at Roland Garros, where he will contest his second Grand Slam semi-final following his run to the same stage at Wimbledon in 2024.
'A lot of junk shots today,' said Tiafoe of his own performance.
'Yeah, he was just tougher in the winning-ugly department, because it wasn't going to be clean from either of us. It was really, really windy and tough conditions.' REUTERS, AFP
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