Phenomenal Alcaraz Thrashes Tsitsipas To Set Up Djokovic Clash At Roland Garros

| by Zachary Wimer

Carlos Alcaraz has been unstoppable at the 2023 Roland Garros but his level against Stefanos Tsitsipas was something else.

When players and pundits talk about statement wins, the 20-year-old put on a few performances like that during the second Grand Slam of the season. He started with a bagel against Flavio Cobolli and never seemed to lift off.

The Spaniard even admitted to feeling invincible in the first round, and he certainly felt that way also when he bested Lorenzo Musetti in the fourth round. After that, Alcaraz faced his most challenging so far in the quarterfinals, the fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The two met already four times on the ATP Tour and every match was won by the Spanish prodigy. Most recently, he defeated Tsitsipas in Barcelona and Alcaraz certainly didn't lack confidence when entering the match.

And his confidence showed early on. The Spaniard used one of his four break points in the third game of the first set, which was also the longest game of the match. It was the moment when he jumped ahead for the first time and never looked back.

When some said that his statement about 'being a complete player' was too much, Alcaraz proved that it certainly wasn't. He managed to win eleven consecutive points in the first set, securing another break and winning it 6-2.

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But the World No. 1's charge was far from over. Tsitsipas, who spent already 200 weeks in the Top 10 on the ATP Tour, seemingly found no answers to Alcaraz's questions and the Spaniard asked one of those already in the first game of the second set.

Silenced Tsitsipas only watched as the 20-year-old secured another break, this time crucial for him to jump ahead in the second set. After that, the Spaniard broke his opponent's serve once more and the second set ended already in the seventh game after a really weird finish.

The Greek was serving but his opponent had three set points, leading 40-0. Unhappy with his performance, Tsitsipas had a long discussion with his father, being late for his serve and receiving a time violation from the umpire Louise Azemar Engzell.

Unhappy also with that, it seemed that the fifth seed wanted to discuss about it, but in reality, there wasn't much to talk about. He accepted the fact that he'll have to deal with the violation, but his tennis didn't prove that. Tsitsipas hit a double fault, gifting his opponent the second set, 6-1.

But Carlos Alcaraz Show on the Court Philippe-Chatrier was far from over. The Spaniard was one of the players that discussed slow Roland Garros balls, but they never seemed to hinder him in painting the lines.

The top seed continued his thrashing of the 2023 Australian Open finalist also in the third set, as Tsitsipas never even appeared to be thinking about a comeback. But that was only until the eighth game.

The Spaniard had two match points, but that's when the Greek started what seemed like a comeback for a minute. He saved those two match points, and in the next game, he even had his first two break points of the match. Using the second one, he made the crowd erupt and fuel his comeback thoughts.

Eventually, Alcaraz had to dig deep in the third set as it went into a tie-break, but Tsitsipas couldn't complete the comeback. After two hours and 12 minutes, the first seed won the match 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(5) to set up a highly anticipated semifinal meeting with Novak Djokovic.

Unfortunately for the tennis fans, the two will meet already in the semifinals, but it will be certainly a match to remember. In his quarterfinal match, Djokovic lost his first set at the tournament this year, but he will want to avoid that against the Spaniard, even though that may be impossible.

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