Alcaraz Majors in suffering to reach final

PARIS, June 7

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz recovered from a woeful start to beat an inconsistent Jannik Sinner 2-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3 and qualify for his maiden French Open final after a see-saw encounter today.

The third seed was a shadow of his brilliant self in the opening set before making the most of his Italian opponent’s premature cramps to level before the bizarre match went into a decider.

Australian Open champion Sinner, who will take over as world No. 1 next week, bowed out when he returned a massive forehand down the line wide on the third match point on court Philippe Chatrier.

“You have to find the joy in suffering, I think that’s the key, even more here on clay, here at Roland Garros, long rallies, four-hour matches, five sets, you have to fight, you have to suffer,” said Alcaraz.

“Probably, the toughest matches I’ve played in my short career have been against Jannik, the US Open 2022, this one, it shows the great player he is… and I hope to play many, many more matches like this one against Jannik,”he added.

Sinner got off to an explosive start and his poise, pace and precision were too much to handle for an out-of-sorts Alcaraz as the Italian raced to a 4-0 lead.

The Spaniard, however, reacted and pulled a break back as Sinner’s first-serve percentage took a dip.

But Alcaraz still could not find his stride and Sinner won another two games in a row to bag the opening set when his opponent netted an ill-timed drop shot.

Yet another unforced error handed Sinner the early break in the second set, but the Italian, who before the French Open had not played for almost a month because of a hip injury, suddenly lost his stride, allowing Alcaraz to use his forehand and level the match. — Reuters

Swiatek to make final push for glory

Paris: Few things have been as certain as a Rafa Nadal triumph at the French Open over the last two decades but Iga Swiatek has emerged as a sure shot among women and is eyeing a fourth title in five years when she meets Jasmine Paolini in tomorrow’s final. Barring a blip in a blockbuster second-round clash against Naomi Osaka where she saved a match point to go through, Swiatek has crushed opponents with her all-court game and 12th seed Paolini will need something special to deny her. Such has been Swiatek’s dominance on clay that the top seed from Poland has won her last 20 matches at Roland Garros, as she bids for a third successive trophy to add to her maiden Grand Slam triumph in Paris four years ago. Reuters