Tennis
French Open
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Updated 32s ago
Men’s singles semifinals day at the 2025 French Open is in full swing as the remaining title hopefuls aim to reach Sunday’s Grand Slam final.
Champion Carlos Alcaraz (2) is the first into the men’s tournament showpiece after beating Lorenzo Musetti (8), who retired with an injury at 6-4, 6-7(3), 0-6, 0-2 down on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros.
Next, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner aims to make his first French Open final against seven-time finalist Novak Djokovic (6).
GO FURTHER
Carlos Alcaraz into French Open final after Lorenzo Musetti retires injured
Every tennis player confronts a conundrum each spring, when the pro tours shift to the crushed red brick of Europe — unless they are a clay-court specialist. Accept or deny? Adjust, or stay true to their tennis self?
At this year’s French Open, nobody is confronting this question more directly than Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1, whose three Grand Slam titles have all come on hard courts.
Unlike his semifinal opponent Novak Djokovic, he didn’t grow up with an affinity for clay. That makes him a bit of an oddball for an Italian. It also made his comeback last month, from a 90-day suspension for two positive doping tests, especially complex.
With his ban ending May 5, Sinner only had time to play one clay tournament before the year’s second Grand Slam here in Paris. That’s not a lot of time for a hard-court guy to acclimatize to the slow, high bounces and the sliding movement on the red stuff.
And his solution to the clay conundrum? Don’t acclimatize at all…
GO FURTHER
Jannik Sinner’s formula for mastering tennis on clay? Ignore the red brick entirely
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Another Carlos Alcaraz achievement, a new benchmark reached? You bet.
The defending champion has reached his fifth men’s singles Grand Slam final and the grand old age of 22 years 20 days old.
Only four players did so at a younger age: Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, and Boris Becker.
Alcaraz is also the fourth youngest player in the Open to reach a Grand Slam men’s singles final for four consecutive years. Again, the only three to do it younger are:
*Data via Opta Ace
Lorenzo Musetti says it was a left leg injury that caused him to retire against Carlos Alcaraz, and he will go for tests tomorrow.
Musetti said in a news conference just now:
💬 “I felt at the beginning of the third (set) when I was serving, I started losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind, and definitely was going worse and worse, so I decided to stop.
“I think it was the right decision to make, even if it was not what I wanted. Tomorrow I will do exams, and I will of course see and evaluate the situation.”
I also asked him about how much playing Alcaraz added to the physical and emotional stress he felt:
💬 “I knew it even before stepping on court that I had to play probably the best match of my career so far (to win).”
He added that playing with a one-handed backhand makes it even more demanding to try and beat Alcaraz and Sinner.
OK, OK. Here’s Coco Gauff too. I wonder how excited either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic will be when the last semifinal winner walks down those same stairs later?
In truth, I really can’t see Jannik Sinner doing any sort of dance. Ever.
Sorry, Jannik.
Yeah, I guess you’re naturally going to be less excited when you’re already a defending champion.
…that this is what we got from Aryna Sabalenka yesterday when she made the French Open women’s singles final.
So what about Carlos Alcaraz tonight?
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Yeah, it is a shame it ended like that — but not a coincidence that Musetti has faded so badly in two of his last three meetings with Alcaraz.
Huge mental and physical challenge to live with the defending champion here, and one that Musetti never looked remotely like passing once he lost the second set.
So Carlos Alcaraz gets an easier passage into the French Open final than he was likely expecting after one set against Lorenzo Musetti.
He made some tactical adjustments, the Italian’s level dropped, and then the physical task of keeping up with Alcaraz got too much.
Here’s how that first semifinal shook down, although it’s tricky to analyse just from this when the match has such a huge swing in it. Still, Carlos Alcaraz still ended up short in terms of his first serve percentage…
Alcaraz beat Musetti — 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0, 2-0(R)
A case of what might have been for Lorenzo Musetti, where injury and conditioning again proves his undoing against the very best.
An extended embrace from Carlos Alcaraz at the net for his opponent.
Sporting from the Spaniard.
Nonetheless, I’m sure part of him will be quietly glad not to have been dragged into a gruelling five-set match ahead of the final!
It is clear Carlos Alcaraz felt much happier with how he increased his level, compared to what was clearly a tough beginning.
So, now he’s done, will he be watching the second men’s singles semifinal between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic? The short answer is… obviously!
💬 “For sure! I’m not going to miss it. This is one of the best match-ups we have in tennis right now.
“Sinner against Djokovic. It’s going to be great.
I’m a huge fan of tennis so I’m going to watch it and enjoy it.
“Obviously, I’m going to take tactics from that match, but I think we are all going to enjoy that match because they are going to play great tennis.”
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And it was all going so well for Lorenzo Musetti about an hour ago…
In the end, the match lasted two hours 25 minutes.
Carlos Alcaraz is already speaking to the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd, and immediately wishes Lorenzo Musetti his best wishes — including that he hopes to see him at Wimbledon later this month.
Final: Alcaraz 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0, 2-0 RET Musetti
And there it is. Musetti retires immediately after that break.
The defending champion is back in the final at Roland Garros.
Musetti is broken again by Alcaraz, literally.
GO FURTHER
Carlos Alcaraz into French Open final after Lorenzo Musetti retires injured
Musetti 6-4, 6-7(3), 0-6, 0-2* Alcaraz
No immediate signs here that the pace is going to let up from Alcaraz.
He holds to love, then takes Musetti to 30-30 before he double faults for a break point to kick off this fourth set.
I’m not sure how much longer this is going to go on for…
Musetti’s first introduction to the wider tennis world came on this court against Novak Djokovic four years ago.
On that occasion, playing in his first ever Grand Slam, Musetti won the first two sets before losing the next three 6-1, 6-0, 4-0 (ret).
He’s come such a long way since, but this is starting to feel a touch reminiscent of that.
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Brick dust flying around. Hope no one gets any Dustin their eyes.
But having the roof on means there will be no rain, man.
Wonder if Lorenzo Musetti can challenge the stamina of marathon man Carlos Alcaraz and become the graduate of Italian tennis here on Chatrier (apparently not, it seems).
No midnight cowboys out there, as it’s Novak Djokovic vs. Jannik Sinner in the night session later.
Musetti 6-4, 6-7(3), 0-6, 0-0* Alcaraz
Utterly phenomenal. Musetti is broken to 15, Alcaraz wins 23 of the 28 points played in that third set, and wins it with a bagel.
It took just 22 minutes — when the first two took almost two hours.
Musetti 6-4, 6-7(3), *0-5 Alcaraz
Musetti also called the trainer at that changeover, indicating an issue in his left thigh. Hard to tell if he’s indicating quad or hamstring.
His Monte Carlo Masters final against Alcaraz earlier this year — in which Musetti also won the first set — ended with the Italian barely able to move, after he had gone the distance several times to reach the final.
Alcaraz beat him with ease. It would be a real shame if anything physical affects the result of this match.
