Switched-on Alcaraz in French Open final after Musetti retires

Hindustan Times

16 hours ago

Mumbai: There is a switch in the Carlos Alcaraz arsenal that he seems to turn on at will. Just when you feel you have him beat, or you are at par with the world No.2, he will turn on that switch and suddenly the afterburners ignite.
Suddenly there's a spring in his step and he's chasing down everything thrown at him. Suddenly he's serving bigger, hitting the ball harder. Suddenly, he's turned the match around.
On Friday, against the odds, Lorenzo Musetti looked the better of the two players in the early stages as he competed with Alcaraz in the semi-final of the French Open. The Italian won the opening set and refused to let the Spaniard surge ahead in the second. But Alcaraz managed to win the second-set tiebreaker. That was the cue for him to let loose.
Musetti could not hang on and was forced to retire early in the fourth set. A match that started with great promise was left incomplete, with Alcaraz going through 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0, 2-0.
The Spaniard, all of 22 years and 20 days, is now the fourth youngest men's singles player to reach the final of a Grand Slam in four consecutive years in the Open Era - with only Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg and Rafael Nadal being younger.
Alcaraz, who has never lost in the final of a Grand Slam, is now three sets away from a fifth major. He played for two hours and 26 minutes against Musetti, but he is already raring to go for Sunday.
'I feel great, I feel that I am playing great tennis, I feel confident,' he said in his on-court interview after the semi-final. 'I've been doing great things in this tournament, and now it's time to give my 100% and go for the final on Sunday.'
That's an early warning from the Spaniard, who overcame a two sets to one deficit to beat Alexander Zverev in the final last year for his first French Open title.
He has been the overwhelming favourite this term as well. For starters, Alcaraz had, arguably, a more favourable draw given that the biggest contenders for the title - Zverev, world No.1 Jannik Sinner and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic were placed in the other half of the draw.
Coming up against Musetti, Alcaraz was to play an opponent he had beaten five out of six times. And it was Alcaraz who made the first big moves in the match, challenging Musetti's serve.
The Italian, No.7 in the world, managed to hold his serve though. And he turned the tables on Alcaraz at the most crucial moment in the first set. With the Spaniard serving to stay in the set, Musetti found the break to clinch the opener in 49 minutes.
It wasn't that Alcaraz was faltering much. It was more that Musetti had employed tactics to keep the man from Murcia at bay.
Musetti played with topspin, switched to flat strokes, sliced with relish with his one-handed backhand, and tossed in moonballs (he played 10 lobbed shots in each of the first two sets). He offered no rhythm to Alcaraz.
The tactics worked and Alcaraz looked a touch rattled. But in the crunch moments of the tiebreaker, Alcaraz managed to get on top.
And then he switched gears.
'The first two sets were really tough. I had chances to break his serve to be up, but I couldn't make the most of it. He was playing great tennis,' Alcaraz said.
'When I won the second set, I was a bit relieved. And then in the third set I knew what I had to do - just push him to the limit, try to be aggressive, not let him dominate. Just be myself. I was more calm. I could see more clearly and I could play great tennis at the beginning of the third.'
In the third set, Alcaraz hit his forehand with much more power than he had throughout the match. His serve too started to give him more inroads into rallies - he dropped just one point on serve in the entire set.
But while Alcaraz moved to a higher level, Musetti started to struggle with a hamstring issue.
Down 5-0 in the third, a physio was called on court to try helping the 23-year-old recover. But about 10 minutes later, Musetti decided to retire from the match.
Acknowledging the quality with which his opponent played, Alcaraz applauded Musetti and urged the crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier to do the same as the Italian walked towards the exit.
This was Musetti's best performance at the French Open. Now Alcaraz, the defending champion, has a chance to match his own best in Paris.