Author: Barkha Roy
Carlos Alcaraz completely dominated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men’s singles quarter-final, demonstrating an unparalleled level of superiority. The Spaniard’s performance resulted in a bombastic 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(5) victory at Roland Garros. This achievement sets up an eagerly awaited semi-final meeting with Novak Djokovic, scheduled for Friday. Alcaraz faced only one game with break points, when Tsitsipas managed to break at the end of the last set to extend the match. However, Alcaraz was undeterred and secured victory on his sixth match point after a competitive battle that lasted two hours and twelve minutes.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic faced a formidable challenge from Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals. Despite losing the first set 4-6, Djokovic showed his resilience and eventually triumphed 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the clay-court major. Surprisingly, Djokovic didn’t have a break point in the opening two sets, but his performance improved dramatically from the tie-break of the second set on the Philippe-Chatrier court. This remarkable turnaround allowed him to secure a comfortable victory after three hours and thirty-eight minutes.
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Djokovic’s ability to excel in best-of-five matches was demonstrated once again. He faced early tie-breaks in the previous rounds against Marton Fucsovics and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, but emerged victorious in straight sets. Against Khachanov, Djokovic showed his best tennis in the latter stages of the match, reaffirming his reputation as a determined and formidable competitor.
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Karolina Muchova secured a convincing victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women’s singles quarter-final, winning 7-5 and 6-2 in a time of 1 hour 38 minutes. As a result of her victory, Muchova will face No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the next semi-final match on Thursday.
Sabalenka reached this stage by ending Elina Svitolina’s French Open campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. This remarkable achievement marks the first time Sabalenka has reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam on clay in her career.
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Despite never having made it past the third round in Paris in her five previous appearances, Sabalenka has been in exceptional form this year. Without losing a set in her five matches so far, she has reached the semi-finals in all four Grand Slam tournaments.
In the match against Svitolina, their third meeting and first in three years, Sabalenka gained control at crucial moments in each set. In the first set, she won three consecutive games 4-3, after a series of service games. In the second set, Sabalenka recovered from a 2-0 deficit to win four games in a row. Although she needed two match points to win, she showed composure and held serve for victory, even after facing a 0-30 deficit in the last game.