Alcaraz inspired by rival Sinner for ruthless Roland Garros win
Defending French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz drew inspiration from his main rival and world number one Jannik Sinner to race past Tommy Paul in 94 minutes and reach the Roland Garros semifinals on Tuesday.
Alcaraz gave a masterclass in attacking tennis to win the opening two sets in under an hour and overwhelmed the American 12th seed for a 6-0 6-1 6-4 win and a meeting with Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
The Spanish second seed's ruthless display came a day after Sinner beat Andrey Rublev in three sets to continue his devastating form at the year's second Grand Slam.
'I love to watch matches on my days off, and yeah, let's say he inspires me in some way just to give my 100% in every match,' Alcaraz told reporters.
'He sees how important it is to play at such a great level in the whole match, just to have more time to recover after the match. So I'm just trying to do it as well.
"I could close my eyes and everything went in." 😁
Alcaraz's on-court interview following his win over Paul 🎤 #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/5wzapUb81Q
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2025
'But for me, it's great to have tennis. I love Grand Slams for that because on my days off, I have great matches to watch and get inspired by watching them.'
Alcaraz beat Musetti in the Monte Carlo final and the Rome semifinal en route to the title but expected a tough test when they face off again in Paris.
'It's going to be a beautiful battle, a beautiful match,' Alcaraz added.
'I think we're both playing great tennis. Monte Carlo final, semis in Rome, so it's going to be great for the people to watch as well. I have to be ready for that match.'
Alcaraz continued his title defence with a display of breathtaking brutality.
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.
What an amazing day of tennis, check out the best moments presented by @emirates ✈️ #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Wlne0rCBuq
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2025
'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 quarterfinals 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.'
The Spaniard 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
2 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Sabalenka eyes claycourt supremacy with Gauff hoping to be second time lucky
The French Open women's singles final takes centre stage at Roland Garros on Saturday. World number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus takes on last year's semifinalist, American Coco Gauff, as she looks to land her first French Open crown to add to her three Grand Slam titles. Long considered a hardcourt specialist, the 27-year-old top seed Sabalenka, the most powerful player on the tour, will try to establish herself as an all-rounder with her first title in Paris. She has already won back-to-back titles at the Australian Open in 2023-24 as well as the U.S. Open crown in 2024 but she had never before reached the final in Paris with the slower clay not naturally suited to her heavy-hitting game. Her three-set semi-final victory on Thursday over four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek, who was looking to become the first woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win four editions of the tournament in a row, elevated Sabalenka to a new level. The Belarusian did not change her power game or adapt it to clay. Instead she used it effectively to forge past her opponent. Despite the closed roof that made the ball even slower, Sabalenka's serve was still a major weapon as she dished out a third-set bagel against Swiatek, who had been on a 26-match winning streak at the tournament and is nicknamed the 'queen of clay'. "I wasn't really trying to overhit," Sabalenka said after her semi-final win.
IOL News
5 hours ago
- IOL News
Genies & genius released on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates another victory Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates his victory over Britain's Cameron Norrie during their men's singles match on day 9 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on Monday. | AFP Majors have that magic effect of elevating not only the level of tennis of Top dogs, in their respective quests to win either their first (Alexander Zverev), their fifth (Carlos Alcaraz),or their 25th (Novak Djokovic) title, but also propelling underdogs to perform beyond all expectation. Roland Garros too, has delivered: French Wild card & No 361, Lois Boisson, your proverbial Cinderella, who prior to this event had no clothing sponsor and was on the verge of declining her invitation to the French Open 'ball' on account of a knee injury, yet pumpkins aside, managed to arrive, in the nick of time. She then proceeded to come from a set down, against World No 3, Jessica Pegula, in Round 4 to beat the stunned American, 3-6,6-4,6-4. No fairy godmother hovered above. Instead she had the divine force of a raucous French crowd willing her to win. Her carriage ride continued into the Quarters, where she upset, 6th seeded Russian, Mira Andreeva in straight sets, 7-6(6),6-3, to earn herself a Semis berth. The fact she then suffered a loss to 2nd seed Coco Gauff was insignificant, in the eyes of the French. Boisson has made Tennis history in becoming the first WTA wild card, literally sprinkled in red fairy dust, to reach the Last-Four endearing herself to Paris, sponsors and the world at large. Then in the ATP Draw, we had the hugely talented, yet incorrigible Russian born, Kazakhstani, Alexander Bublik, refusing to take life or tennis too seriously: 'I'm perfectly normal,' he quipped, when asked in a pre match press conference, his laissez faire attitude towards his profession.' It's everyone else who is abnormal-' because they won't go out and relax and have a drink mid must have been a magic potion in that drink, because Bublik, who's never progressed beyond Round 1 at Roland Garros, suddenly slayed Top 10, Alex De Minaur from Two sets down- 2-6, 2-6, 6-4,6-3,6-2 to reach the Last 16, where he followed it up with an even more impressive 5-7,6-3,6-2,6-4, victory over World and five and fast rising, Britain's Jack Draper. "This has been the happiest day of my life.' The emotional Kasakh declared in his post match interview. Sadly World No 1, Jannik Sinner, burst Bublik's euphoric bubble in the Quarters, 6-1,6-2, but the indelible, if erratic genius of the man, who drop shotted Draper into capitulation( 20 odd in total) conjured up undoubtedly the match of the for major contenders, the biggest heavyweight upset, was dished out by none other than three-time former champion and GOAT, Djokovic, to World No 3, Zverev, the latter heavily tipped to lift the 'Coupe De Mousquetaires'. ' I think at the moment he's a bit underrated..' An understatement from the German, while swallowing his bitter 4-6, 6-3,6-2,6-2 Last 8 loss to the Serbian icon. Despite a lack lustre season, let's not forget Djokovic beat Alcaraz in the Australian Open Quarter Finals, in another epic match which according to the victor 'should have been the Final..' And he arrived at Roland Garros brimming with confidence, having secured his 100th Singles title in Geneva. Zverev added- 'This is the best he has played all year.' The best of Djokovic's shotmaking included- uncharacteristically- 26 winning volleys out of 36 forays to the net- definitely a very necessary string, this entrenched baseliner has finally added to his bow. The question remains, can the Serb now take out the World Nos 1 & 2, Sinner & Alcaraz, back to back having eliminated No 3, in his quest to notch up that coveted 25th win. No other Major champion has achieved this 'treble' to date, yet perhaps we should not rule out a fairytale ending, on a court conducive to so many promising beginnings.
TimesLIVE
14 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Alcaraz returns to French Open final after ailing Musetti retires
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz composed himself after a slow start before charging into back-to-back French Open finals when eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 4-6 7-6(3) 6-0 2-0 on Friday. Alcaraz, who is attempting to become only the third man to retain his Roland Garros title this century after Rafa Nadal and Gustavo Kuerten, will face either world number one Jannik Sinner or 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final. 'It's never great to go through like this,' Alcaraz said, before hailing Musetti's achievement of reaching at least the semifinals of all four elite clay court events this year. 'He's a great player, he has had an incredible clay court season ... I wish him a speedy recovery and I'm sure we'll be enjoying his tennis pretty soon.' Musetti twice denied Alcaraz the chance to break in the opening nine games before the 23-year-old suddenly dialled up the intensity and snatched the opening set when his Spanish opponent produced errors in a poor service game.
