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A mouth-watering French Open semi-final is in prospect after 20-year-old world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz cruised past fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to book a meeting with Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic, a 22-time grand slam champion, overcome a first-set blip to beat Karen Khachanov 4-6 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 6-4 to stay on course for a record-breaking 23rd men’s singles title.
“This match is what everyone wanted to watch and it is going to be a really good match to play and to watch,” Alcaraz said of Friday’s semi-final.
“If you want to be the best you have to beat the best and (Djokovic) is one of the best players in the world.”
The two-time Roland Garros winner initially struggled to find a weakness in 11th-seed Khachanov’s serve but once he took the second set tiebreak there was no looking back for the Serbian.
Alcaraz had a third-set wobble but was otherwise largely untroubled as he won 6-2 6-1 7-6 (7-5).
The Spanish star did not take long to put Tsitsipas under pressure, breaking him on his second service game.
The 24-year-old Tsitsipas, still searching for an elusive first grand slam title, could not match Alcaraz’s power and precision and the Spaniard broke him to love with a sensational running forehand down the line to go 5-2 up.
He wrapped up the first set, winning 12 of the last 14 points played but was equally relentless in the second to break Tsitsipas in the very first game to love.
He added another break to go 4-1 up and even the crowd, clearly backing Tsitsipas, could not spark a comeback as Alcaraz bagged the second set when his dazed opponent double-faulted.
It was a similar story in the third as he earned a quick break and took a 5-1 lead, before he squandered three match points.
Tsitsipas launched a four-game comeback but Alcaraz ended it on his fifth match point.
“I lost my focus a little bit (in the third set) … it was pretty tough at the end of the match,” Alcaraz said.
“Believing in myself all the time, that’s the most important thing. I always think that I am going to play these kinds of matches at this level.
“The key is to enjoy.”
In his opening set, Djokovic did not have a single break opportunity but his metronomic game eventually clicked and there was little the Russian could do to stop his opponent’s march into the last four.
“He was the better player for most of the first two sets, I was struggling to find my rhythm, I came into this a bit sluggish,” Djokovic said.
“Then I played a perfect tiebreak and from that moment onwards I played a couple of levels higher.
“It was a big fight but that’s what you expect from a grand slam quarter-final.”
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the world No.2, has distanced herself from her country’s president and involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“I don’t want my country to be in any conflict, I don’t support the war,” Sabalenka told a press conference after her quarter-final victory against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina at the French Open.
“I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support (Belarus President) Alexander Lukashenko right now.”
But Svitolina accused Sabalenka of adding fuel to the fire by standing at the net waiting for a handshake she knew would never happen at the end of their quarter-final on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian also queried why Sabalenka had not been find for skipping media duties, as is the norm.
Sabalenka did not attend her two previous press conferences last week, citing mental health reasons and saying she did not feel safe after being grilled about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, and Belarus being used as a staging ground for Russian troops.
“I really felt bad not coming here. I couldn’t sleep. Like all those bad feelings was in my head, I couldn’t fall asleep. I felt really bad not coming here,” Sabalenka explained.
“I don’t regret the decisions. I felt really disrespected, and I felt really bad. I mean, grand slam, it’s enough pressure to handle, and I just tried to focus on myself, on my game,” she said.
“I really hope that you guys will understand me, my feelings. You know that I really respect all of you… You can ask whatever you want. You will get all the information.
“But in the last press conference, I felt like my press conference became a political TV show, and I’m not expert in politics. I’m just a tennis player.”
Svitolina had warned she would not shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus and said of her opponent’s behaviour: “I don’t know what she was waiting for, because my statements were clear enough about the handshake.”
Svitolina was booed by the crowd as she walked straight to her bench after losing the match 6-4 6-4.
“I was expecting that and it was not a surprise for me,” she said of the jeers, which she also received when not shaking hands with Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in the previous round.
Asked if Sabalenka was looking to inflame the situation by standing at the net instead of also walking back to her bench, Svitolina said: “Yeah, I think so.”
“My initial reaction, was like, what are you doing? Because, in all my press conferences I made my position clear.
“I made multiple statements that I’m not shaking hands, and she played obviously Marta (Kostyuk of Ukraine) as well in the first round. So it’s quite simple.”
On Sabalenka missing press conferences Svitolina said: “It should be equal for everyone. Like, for example, why (Japan’s) Naomi (Osaka) got fined last time and this time there is no fine for the player, who also skips the press conference.
In 2021, former world No.1 Osaka was fined $US15,000 ($A22,500) for skipping a post-match press conference at the French Open and threatened with tough sanctions by the board of the four grand slam tournaments.
The Japanese player subsequently withdrew from the tournament citing mental health concerns and later said she had been battling depression and anxiety for years.
© AAP
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