Carlos Alcaraz halted a mid-match fightback by ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to secure a 6-3 7-6(3) 6-4 win on Tuesday and set up a blockbuster French Open semi-final with incoming world number one Jannik Sinner.The third seed, who came into the contest with a 5-0 record over Tsitsipas, caused all kinds of problems for his Greek opponent with high kick serves to the backhand and won the first set in 33 minutes.
The rematch of last year’s quarter-final looked set for the same result on Court Philippe Chatrier as Alcaraz broke and then held to go up 3-0 as Tsitsipas did not help his cause with an error-prone display early in the second set.
Tsitsipas worked the crowd after hitting a stinging forehand when down 4-2 and looked rejuvenated as he finally solved the puzzle with a break back before drawing level, but Alcaraz raised his game in the tiebreak to double his advantage.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic has been ruled out of the French Open 2024 ahead of the quarterfinals against Casper Ruud due to a knee injury. After Djokovic withdrew from Roland Garros, he also had to relinquish his top spot in the ATP rankings as Jannik Sinner was automatically crowned as the new world number 1.