It was the most complicated duel to date at this Roland Garros and Carlos Alcaraz overcame it with flying colors. The Spaniard, back to the day session in the Parisian tournament, defeated the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, one of his contemporary rivals, 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2, and is already in the quarterfinals, where he will face the winner of the duel between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Sebastian Ofner. With Novak Djokovic already qualified for the semifinals – the Serb was able to beat Juan Pablo Varillas in three sets – the semifinals between the two big favorites are getting closer.
Alcaraz, who was coming off three victories more or less on track against tennis players without many arguments to really compete against him in a match here, this Sunday faced a Musetti whom he knows very well from his youth days and who defeated him in the final in Hamburg last year.
It was not a gift from the Musetti team, who this year already beat Djokovic on clay, in Monte Carlo, and thus made him show in an effervescent start in which in the first two games he broke the Spaniard’s serve and confirmed his serve. The game was going uphill for Alcaraz, who had already had some gaps against Flavio Cobolli (third set), against Taro Daniel (second set) and against Denis Shapovalov (second set), but always with an advantage on the scoreboard and already shot. This was the first time at this Roland Garros that it was the rival who came out to command.
And this did not bother Alcaraz. He accepted the biggest hit from his rival and started their match. He attacked the backhand of the Italian, beautiful with one hand, but inconsistent, and reached every drop shot that he provoked. On many occasions past revolutions, Musetti wore an impeccable aesthetic, but little punch and competitiveness when it came down to it. As soon as Alcaraz neutralized the disadvantage, the Italian disappeared. He took a run of eight to one and a desperation surfaced in him that made him send a ball out of the stadium after losing a point. He was angry with himself, for not being able to put up a fight, but he was unable to transfer that anger to his racket and get something positive out of it.
Nole also wins easily
With two sets already lost and without even being able to get the public on his side, it was a pipe dream to think that Musetti could become the first tennis player to come back from 2-0 against Alcaraz in a Grand Slam. Something is missing from this 21-year-old Italian to dream of those achievements, something that Alcaraz does have, who did not stop attacking the ball and looking for the winning shot until the match was over.
With two hours and eight minutes, Alcaraz had enough to complete his most difficult test of the first week at Roland Garros and enter the final stretch of the tournament with all possible guarantees.
Djokovic, the other great favorite in the men’s draw, was also in no hurry to reach the quarterfinals and beat one of the tournament’s surprises, Juan Pablo Varillas, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The Peruvian, who came to this match after three straight matches to five sets, could no longer take it and bowed to a Djokovic who added his 17th quarterfinal at Roland Garros, one more than Rafael Nadal. The Serbian will face Karen Khachanov, who overcame the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7) and 6-1).
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