French Open: Carlos Alcaraz overcomes a rollercoaster to beat Lorenzo Musetti, but can't afford such swings in momentum in the final

Indian Express

13 hours ago

There are clear reasons why tennis's governing bodies salivate at the prospect of promoting Carlos Alcaraz as the face of the sport's new, rising generation. The way he blends his raw power and clean baseline play with moments of ingenuity and variety is unique. It creates a style of play that is perfect for crafting bite-sized highlight-reel packages for today's relentless content-consumption era.
For all his talent and brilliance, though, turbulence and inconsistency have become just as big a part of his game: the great mismatch between his best level and his worst often showing up in the very same match. It is not unusual for crowds to be gushing over his impeccable point construction, thunderous forehand, and creativity before being sent into an amused sense of befuddlement over a routine error on a rally ball the next point.
The former is how Alcaraz has won four Majors by the age of 22, and the latter is how, midway through the highly enjoyable, captivating semifinal against Lorenzo Musetti on Friday, he stared down the barrel of a daunting two-set deficit. But he rediscovered his touch to defeat Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 2-0 (ret) and will have the opportunity to defend his French Open title on Sunday.
The former is how the Spaniard became tennis's Gen-Z pathbreaker, becoming the youngest-ever year-end World No. 1 by the age of 19. The latter is likely to cause him and his team some concerns, given the quality of the opponent in the final.
On Friday, Musetti arrived with a brilliant game plan, initially executed with precision. The Italian No. 8 seed, a fine clay courter, used his loopy forehand and a delicious single-handed backhand slice to take the sting out of the baseline exchanges, giving Alcaraz no pace to play from the back of the court. He often elongated the rallies and waited for the right moment to strike with a big groundstroke.
Musetti served phenomenally and played near-perfectly just to keep up with Alcaraz in the first set. The Spaniard had been excellent in flashes but missed his opportunities to go ahead. The first time his opponent put him under serious pressure late into the set, he crumbled, feeble errors from his racquet allowing the Italian to steal the opener with his first break point.
The best-of-five-sets format suits Alcaraz, allowing him to contend with the fluctuations in his level. As he came out in the second, he was calm and gently went up a gear, but once again failed to make good of his chances. Twice, he went up a break, the second giving him the opportunity to serve for the set, and both times he ceded the advantage.
But after a dominant tiebreaker, Alcaraz had the momentum as the scores equalled, and his level went through the roof, playing Musetti totally off the court. The Italian could hardly get a point (he won five, compared to his opponent's 24).
He then called the trainer down 0-5 in the third set and finally threw in the towel down 0-2 in the fourth. The scores do not accurately justify the kind of scare Musetti gave Alcaraz when the second set had gone into a breaker, with the Spaniard staring at the possibility of having to come back from a two-set deficit for the first time in his career.
'The first two sets were really tough. I had chances but I could not make the most of it,' Alcaraz said on court after the win, complimentary of his opponent's clay court expertise. 'When I won the second set, I was a little relieved.'
Despite having a very favourable route to the title clash, Musetti is not the only player to give Alcaraz a scare. He has dropped sets in four of his six matches at Roland Garros this year. Damir Dzumhur dramatically nearly took Alcaraz to five sets before the Spaniard went up a gear to seal the four-set win in the second round. In the fourth round, Ben Shelton had set points in the first-set tiebreaker before Alcaraz rode his opponent's errors to steal the set; had he not, it could have seriously altered the complexion of another seemingly routine four-set victory.
And it is missed chances and lapses in level, which keep creeping into his game, that Alcaraz can ill-afford in the upcoming final. The 22-year-old does not necessarily need lessons in winning. But it is not always tantalising shotmaking that emerges victorious on the biggest stages of the game, instead, it is solidity through tough moments, being brilliant when required but level-headed in adversity.
It was that quality which proved effective in him beating Sinner at the Masters 1000 event on red clay in Rome before Roland Garros. It was the lack thereof that saw him lose to Djokovic in their Australian Open quarterfinal in January. It is decisive against the very best.
And the very best is who he is up against next. He knows. 'Of course, I will watch. Sinner against Djokovic is probably one of the best matchups in tennis right now,' he said after wrapping up his victory. 'I will watch it and enjoy, but of course, I will also take note of the tactics.'