Carlos Alcaras (3rd, Spain) and Alexander Zverev (4th, Germany) will face off in the men’s singles final of the French Open tennis tournament (53.5 million euros in total prize money, about 79.4 billion won).
Alcaras came from behind to beat Jannik Sinner (2nd, Italy) in the men’s singles semifinals on the 13th day of the tournament at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, on the 7th (local time).
In the following match, Zverev defeated Kasper Ruud (7th, Norway) 3-1 (2-66-2 6-4 6-2) to advance to the final.
The men’s singles final between Alcaras and Zverev is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. on the 9th in Korean time.
Zverev led the two by a small margin with five wins and four losses. Zverev won the quarterfinals at this year’s Australian Open 3-1 (6-1 6-3 6-7<2-7> 6-4) and Alcaras won the BNP Paribas Open 2-0 (6-3 6-1) in March.
Alcaras went 2-1 after meeting three times on clay.
Alcaras had a chance to win a major at this year’s French Open, following the U.S. Open in 2022 and Wimbledon in 2023.
Alcaras, born in 2003, is the first player to reach No. 1 in the world since winning the 2022 U.S. Open before turning 20.
In particular, Sinner and the semifinals were called the de facto finals and attracted fans’ attention.
Sinner, born in 2001, and Alcaras, who are two years younger than him, are considered “the next frontrunners” in men’s tennis.
Sinner won his first major at this year’s Australian Open, and after the tournament, he is confirmed to beat Novak Djokovic (1st, Serbia) to become the world’s No. 1 player regardless of the result.
Alcaras got off to a shaky start when he was dragged 0-4 with two breaks allowed after the start of the first set.
In the second set, the game score was also pushed to 0-2 and took the lead at the beginning of the game, but from then on, he won five games and fought back.
In the third set, both players showed abnormal physical conditions.
The two were already not in normal condition due to injuries ahead of the French Open, but Alcaras suffered pain in his right hand during the third set, and Sinner had problems with his right arm and left leg muscles.
In the third set, Alcaras succeeded in the early break and led 2-1, but at this time, Sinner got down and won four games, pushing Alcaras to the brink.
Moreover, Alcaras had memories of his third and fourth set performance falling sharply in the semifinals of the tournament with Djokovic last year due to muscle pain in his legs in the third set. 노래방알바
However, Alcaras succeeded in breaking the game with a 5-4 lead in the fourth set, handing the match to the fifth set, and in the fifth set, he kept an early 3-0 lead until the end and won a close game of 4 hours and 9 minutes.
Alcaras, 21, became the youngest player to reach major singles finals on hard courts, grass courts and clay courts.
“Claycourt games are bound to be painful because of the long rally,” he said. “I learned last year that I had to overcome difficult moments through the semifinals with Djokovic.”
On this day, Alcaras overwhelmed Sinner 65-39 in the number of successful attacks.
They did their best to shoot 219km of Sinner and 217km of Alcaras, and there was a tight race in which Sinner led 147-145 in total score, but Alcaras, who was a little more aggressive, laughed at the end.
In the following match, Zverev beat Ruud and reached the final of his second major tournament since the runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open.
Zverev was knocked out of the semi-finals of the tournament for the third consecutive year since 2021 before crossing the gates of the Geary semifinals this year.
However, Zverev is currently facing a trial in Germany over domestic violence with his ex-girlfriend.
A related trial was held at the Berlin Family Court in Germany on the day of the semifinal match, and according to the German news agency dpa, both lawyers have reached an agreement.