Carlos Alcaraz powered into his second successive Roland Garros final with a win against Lorenzo Musetti in Paris, but his rivals will have spotted his weaknesses in a curious end to the first set.
Italian Musetti was clinging on for periods of the first set, but he didn’t need to do too much to create an opening as Alcaraz served to stay in the opening set.
Playing under the roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Musetti won the first set after a tame error from Alcaraz and the young Spaniard looked rattled as he returned to his seat to compose himself.
The second set was also on a knife edge as Alcaraz broke early and then dropped his serve straight away, with the final twist in this story coming with what appeared to be a leg injiry for Musetti as he was forced to quit with the score 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0, 2-0.
“Well, it is not great, you know, winning the match like this,” said Alcaraz, as he reflected on his win.
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“Lorenzo is a great player, he has had an incredible clay season, he is one of the few players who have reached at least the semi-finals in the big events on clay.
“Just four players have done it before, and he is the fifth player, so that shows what an incredible player he is.
“I wish him all the best with his recovery. I am sure that we are going to enjoy his tennis again pretty soon.”
“The first two sets were really tough. I had chances to break his serve and be up in the match, but I could not make the most of it. He was playing great tennis.
“When I won the second set there was a feeling of relief and then, in the third set, I knew what I had to do from the beginning.
“I just had to push him to the limit and just try to be aggressive, and not let him dominate the game more.
“I just had to be myself, so I was calmer, I could see things more clearly and I could play more great tennis at the beginning of the third set.”
The levels of excellence Alcaraz has set at the age of just 22 ensure any blip in his form is a surprise and the concerned look on his face as Musetti took the opening set was telling.
We have only seen Alcaraz crack on a few occasions in his career, with his fraying temper following his defeat against Novak Djokovic in last year’s Olympic Games gold medal match seeing him slump to a couple of shock defeats, including a big loss at the US Open against Botic van de Zandschulp.
Occasionally, and this is very occasionally, it feels like the weight of expectations and the levels of perfection we expect from Alcaraz catch up with him when an opponent puts him under pressure.
Musetti’s dip in form in their Roland Garros semi-final helped him get back into the match and the injury to the Italian finished him off.
Now Alcaraz will face an even bigger test as he looks to win the fifth Grand Slam of his remarkable career in Sunday’s final.
READ: Carlos Alcaraz joins Rafael Nadal in record books as he makes second French Open final
The post Carlos Alcaraz displayed rare weakness at Roland Garros that will encourage his rivals appeared first on Tennis365.
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