Alcaraz inspired by rival Sinner for ruthless Roland Garros win

TimesLIVE

04-06-2025

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.