Carlos Alcaraz outscraps Jannik Sinner to make first French Open final

For a set and a bit against Jannik Sinner on Friday, Carlos Alcaraz was a train wreck. The Spaniard, big on smiling on court, was agitatedly talking to himself and back at his box, unable to come up with answers.

Until help came from the most unexpected direction — the soon-to-be world No. 1 across the net that Alcaraz termed as the best player in the world currently. A double fault by Sinner set up three break points in the fourth game of the second set, which Alcaraz seized with a forehand crosscourt winner. With that famed forehand, erratic until then, now talking and body language springing and fist-pumping, Alcaraz won five games on the bounce to turn the tables.

That passage of play, in essence, summed up the French Open semi-final in which Alcaraz came out a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner to enter his first final in Paris. The latest act in this new-age rivalry, which is increasingly taking centre stage in the post Big Three era and according to Alcaraz “everybody wants to watch”, was scrappy, wildly momentum-swinging yet not as quality-stamping.

In the end, though, the Spaniard’s craft on clay took him through against an opponent who has been near untouchable this season but remains slightly vulnerable on the red dirt. Since winning his first Slam in Melbourne this year, Sinner's mesmerising march has been reminiscent of the kind Alcaraz had between his first two Slams from the 2022 US Open to 2023 Wimbledon. Both, however, were coming into this Roland Garros with fitness concerns and skipped tournaments.

Locked 4-4 in their head-to-head with Sinner, 22, winning their only clash on clay and Alcaraz, 21, taking their previous meeting, there was little to separate the two young guns. The gap was yawning, however, when curtains were raised on their most recent date.

Such was the fast and fluid start by the Italian that it left everyone, not least Alcaraz, a bit flabbergasted. A couple of backhand passing winners and a sprint to get to and nullify the Alcaraz drop shot showed how dialled-in Sinner was as he broke Alcaraz right away.

Another up-the-line backhand winner got him a double break to go with back-to-back love holds. With Alcaraz’s first serve win percentage a lowly 44 and Sinner bossing from the baseline offensively and defensively, the opening set was quickly shut.

Alcaraz needed a better start to the second set, but a double fault and an unforced error to kick things off saw his serve pierced again. Around the same time, though, Sinner’s level and serve efficiency dropped. So drastic was the turnaround that Alcaraz took the second set shooting 14 winners to Sinner’s three.

It was now up to Sinner to respond, and he did despite what appeared to be cramps creeping in. After both traded early breaks, the Italian began shaking his arms while fending off multiple break chances in the fifth game. While his first strike remained shaky, the other strokes did not. And so, finding the acutest of angles past Alcaraz trying to serve and volley, he got the break instead the next game. Sinner was physically on the edge, yet Alcaraz couldn't push him over.

Even as Sinner’s cramps seemed to have settled, Alcaraz’s spark lit up again. A fully stretched forehand passing winner on the run was followed by a loud “vamos”. And soon off he went to a decider, pouncing on the only opening through the fourth set that had Sinner miss a straightforward overhead putaway at 30-15 serving to stay in the set.

Alcaraz rode that momentum early in the fifth set. A backhand crosscourt winner picked up off his ankle and placed perfectly to set up break point put him ahead in the third game. And, despite the various twists and turns of this tussle, the Spaniard did not look back.