An anthology semi-final. Carlos Alcaraz easily got rid of Stefanos Tsitsipas, who let slip the first two sets before rebelling in the third, putting on a great show for the Roland-Garros crowd. But the steamroller Alcaraz triumphed after the tie-break in the third set. Final score: 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5). For his part, if he lost his first set of the fortnight against Karen Khachanov, Novak Djokovic was able to regain the upper hand in the second set. Although he was pushed to the tie-break, he quickly unwound, and wandered into the final two sets.
For almost three sets, you had to rub your eyes to believe that it was really a duel between two players from the world's top 5, as Alcaraz overwhelmed Tsitsipas, almost from the first moments of the match. However, the young protege of Juan Carlos Ferrero had a little trouble finishing. Leading 5 games to 2 in the third set, he got a first match point on Tsitsipas' serve, then a second two games later, and in the meantime he served to win the game, all while vain. He nevertheless came out in the decisive game, 7 points to 5.
Djokovic (3rd), in search of a record 23rd grand slam title, took 3:38 to defeat the Russian (11th) 4-6, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-4 . “He was better for the majority of the first two sets. I struggled to get into the match, but I managed a perfect tie-break," commented the Serb, believing that the tiebreak marked the turning point of the match. "It's like it was two games in one. The first two sets (until the tie-break) are my two worst in the tournament so far. And then the third and fourth were pretty good,” analyzed Djokovic.
"When I entered the court today, I had probably left a part of me in the locker room", he summed up after signing his 90th victory on Parisian clay where only the master of the place Rafael Nadal did better (112).
He will thus play his twelfth half at Roland-Garros where only Nadal has done better (15 for 14 titles). It will also be his 45th half in a grand slam, and there, only Roger Federer did better (46).
In the women's draw, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd) dismissed the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (192nd) 6-4, 6-4 and reached the last Parisian square for the first time in her career.
Between the Belarusian and the Ukrainian, the match was accompanied, as since the start of the war in Ukraine, by an emotional and political charge.
Ukrainian players have got into the habit of not shaking hands with their Russian or Belarusian opponents. On Tuesday, Sabalenka waited for Svitolina at the net, obviously hoping to greet her, but the Ukrainian did not even give her a look, receiving whistles from the public who had nevertheless supported her during the game.
"I did it instinctively, as I always do at the end of my matches," explained the Belarusian, returning to the press conference after missing the previous two to preserve his "sanity" and "well- be,” feeling too targeted by questions about the war in Ukraine and his ties to his country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko. But this wait at the net was not appreciated by the Ukrainian who felt that Sabalenka had thus added fuel to the fire.
Still, Sabalenka, crowned with her first Major title in January at the Australian Open, is at the rendezvous of the last square in Paris.
She will face the Czech Karolina Muchova (43rd) there on Thursday, victorious 7-5, 6-2 from the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (333rd but 2021 finalist) earlier in the day.
With the focus on a final against defending champion, world number 1 Iga Swiatek. The Pole still has to pass the quarters, Wednesday against the American Coco Gauff (6th), in a remake of the 2022 final.
