Roland Garros, Sinner stops in the semifinals: he loses to Alcaraz in the fifth set

The Italian tennis player was defeated after almost four hours of play by the Spaniard, who won his first career French Slam final: he will face the German Alexander Zverev. The Italian was beaten with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6

The dream of seeing Jannik Sinner in the final at Roland Garros in Paris was shattered on the Philippe Chatrier court after almost four hours of play: the Italian tennis player lost in the semi-final in the fifth set against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, friend and at the same time rival of Always. The Italian, who suffered some physical problems during the match, was defeated with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6. Alcaraz thus reached his first French Slam final in his career: he will face the winner, the German Alexander Zverev, who defeated the Norwegian Casper Ruud. Sinner, however, leaves Paris as the new n. 1 in the world ahead of the grass season.

The story of the match

Sinner won the first set 6-2, in 39 minutes of play. The Italian tennis player managed to break serve three times against the Spaniard, who appeared nervous especially in the early stages. Alcaraz then won the second set, in 49 minutes, with a score of 6-3: the Spaniard took advantage of the physical decline of Sinner, who had started the set well and was ahead with the break at the start, but then succumbed to challenger who has won 5 consecutive games. The third set, more balanced, was won in 59 minutes by Sinner with a score of 6-3: the Italian recovered a break deficit by winning five of the last six games of the set. Alcaraz brought himself back to parity by winning the fourth set: 6-4, in 48 minutes. An error by Sinner was decisive, leading 30-15 in the tenth game, he missed a comfortable smash and opened the way for the Spaniard to reach the fifth and decisive set. Fifth set which was then won by Alcaraz with a score of 6-3.

Sinner at Roland Garros, from uncertainties to world no.1

Jannik’s progress in the French Slam was nevertheless positive: he arrived in Paris with many doubts, linked to the hip injury that forced him to miss his home tournament, the Rome Internationals, from the first rounds the South Tyrolean brought home solid performances. Then came the day that made the history of Italian tennis: on June 4, while he was on the court in the match against Dimitrov in the quarter-finals, Sinner became n.1 in the ATP ranking. Never had an Italian succeeded. The official announcement came with Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal from the tournament, number 1 for 428 weeks. Perhaps not the path the 22-year-old from South Tyrol had imagined, who thus took the top place in the ranking. “It’s everyone’s dream to become No. 1 in the world, but at the same time it’s sad to see Novak like this: I wish him a speedy recovery”, were the first words of Jannik, moved, amidst the applause of the audience, at the end of the match, when he discovered that he had reached the summit. “It’s a special moment for me, I’m very happy to share it with you and with those who are following me from home in Italy.”

The precedents between Sinner and Alcaraz

Today was the 10th act of the “saga” between Sinner and Alcaraz, a rivalry destined to mark tennis in the coming years. The balance is now 6-4 for the Spaniard, with Jannik having won the only previous match on clay in the major circuit before today. In 2019, at the Challenger in Alicante, Alcaraz won, just as the Spaniard also won the challenges of 2021 (Masters 1000 in Paris), 2022 (US Open), 2023 (Indian Wells) and 2024 (also in Indian Wells). Instead, Jannik won the victories in 2022 (Wimbledon and Umag) and 2023 (Miami and Beijing). Finally, today’s victory at Roland Garros went to Alcaraz.

in-depth analysis

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