Alcaraz enters French Open final after Musetti retires

Carlos Alcaraz kept his Roland Garros title defence on track as he booked his spot in the final after eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti retired injured in the fourth set of their semi-final on Friday.

The Spaniard led 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-0, 2-0 after two hours and 25 minutes of play under the roof on Court Philippe Chatrier when Musetti quit with a thigh issue.

Second seed Alcaraz will defend his crown on Sunday against either world number one Jannik Sinner or 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.

“It’s been three intense weeks and now I have one step to make,” he said. “I’ll give everything on Sunday, I’ve been playing great tennis this tournament.”

He now leads 23-year-old Musetti 6-1 in their head-to-head series, winning all three of their clay-court battles this season after victories in the final at Monte Carlo and semi-finals of the Italian Open.

The 22-year-old, who is attempting to become only the third man to retain his Roland Garros title this century after Rafa Nadal and Gustavo Kuerten, is now into his second French Open showpiece match, and fifth major final overall.

Just as in the Monte Carlo final in April, it was the Tuscan who clinched the first set in the latest edition of the budding Alcaraz-Musetti rivalry.

Both players battled through an even opener that offered up occasional sparks of brilliance, but every time a sniff of a break opportunity appeared the server upped his game to nullify it.

Musetti eventually pounced at 5-4, drawing first blood in Alcaraz’s fifth service game by concluding a brutal baseline rally with a hammered crosscourt forehand winner.

He then secured three set points when Alcaraz dragged a shot long, before the Spaniard dumped a forehand into the tramlines to give Musetti the lead.

The Italian began the second set with a trademark sweeping backhand down the line on the very first point as his confidence grew.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz roared back to break Musetti to love in the third game, sealing it with a perfectly-weighted backhand drop-shot.

However, Musetti immediately riposted to level the set at 2-2.

Alcaraz produced two break points five games later but Musetti held his nerve to wipe both out before celebrating the crucial hold with a double fist pump towards his box.

The Monte Carlo and Rome champion did manage to get the break he needed on Musetti’s next service game, but again the world number seven frustrated him by immediately hitting back to force a tie-break.

But Alcaraz was not to be denied as he raced into a 3-0 lead, before a kindly net cord helped a drop-shot on its way to take him to 5-1, and Musetti then netted a forehand on the run to give the Spaniard the set at the third time of asking.

Now firmly in the ascendancy, Alcaraz pressed his advantage by dominating his opponent’s first two service games of the third set.

Musetti received a massage on his left thigh during the change-over while trailing 0-5, before Alcaraz again broke him to take the set in 22 minutes for the loss of just five points.

Musetti then signalled that he was unable to continue after the second game of the fourth set, shaking his opponent’s hand before making his way off court.

It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise excellent clay-court season for the Carrera-native as he reached at least the semi-finals of the three Masters-level tournaments, as well as Roland Garros.

“It’s never great to go through or win a match when it’s like this,” said Alcaraz.

“He’s done an incredible clay season. I wish him all the best, a quick recovery and that he’ll be back soon.”

Musetti said he was “really sad and disappointed” after a thigh injury put paid to his French Open semi-final with Alcaraz.

“I felt at the beginning of the third (set) when I was serving, I start to, start losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind, and definitely was going worse and worse, so I decided to stop,” Musetti told his post-match press conference.

“I think was, you know, the right decision to make, even if it was not what I wanted.

“(I’m) really honestly sad and disappointed on how it ended, but still a great match so far.”

The abrupt ending was an unfortunate denouement to an intriguing battle between the rivals.

Agence France-Presse