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French Open 2024: Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner; books spot in first Roland Garros final
After a very hard-fought 4 hour-long match, Carlos Alcaraz made his way to his first French Open final
Prathibha Joy
Jun 07, 2024
Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner to head into his first French Open Final
When you have Hollywood star Ben Stiller in attendance, you know it’s got to be an important match. This was the first semi-final of the 2024 French Open between World No.1 Jannik Sinner and No.3 Carlos Alcaraz; young men who are still in their early 20s, and will, in all likelihood, be competing against each other for at least a decade and a half. Today, they faced off, with an evenly poised 4:4 head-to-head record, in the pursuit of a shot at a French Open title, which has evaded both of them so far.
Only 13 minutes into the match, Sinner was two breaks up at 3-0. Sinner was 4-1 up when Alcaraz finally began finding his rhythm and broke the former. It didn’t take the new World No.1 Sinner to restore his double break lead. But Sinner was able to close it out at 6-2 only on the third set point when an Alcaraz drop shot landed short on his side of the court.
The second set also started with Alcaraz not able to hold serve, lobbing several of his returns well outside the baseline. But he levelled out soon, what with Sinners serve deserting him and double faults helping Alcaraz level the score at 2-2. But then, there was a sudden shift in Alcaraz’ game as he raced to a 5-2 lead. The winners just dried up for Sinner, in comparison to how he fared in the first set. Alcaraz took the set 6-3.
By the third set, the effort from both the players became more apparent, with both sides quite audible while playing shots. It began with Alcaraz grunting at one and Sinner quietly and calmly doing his thing, but after almost two hours of play, the grunts were from both ends of the court. And it was Sinner who managed to convert the points to his advantage and wrestle the set at 6-3.
In the fourth, Alcaraz was determined to take Sinner all the way yet again and forced the match into a fifth set decider, in which he raced to a 3-0 lead. Then at 4 hours and 6 minutes, the young Spaniard had his first match point; Sinner averts. Two minutes later, match point 2, but this time Alcaraz sent a forehand too long. A minute later, match point 3, and finally, Carloz Alcaraz sealed a spot in the final of the French Open.
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