The Times of India at Roland Garros: For an hour and 40 minutes, Lorenzo Musetti forced the extra ball on the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who was stretched, running and sliding, playing one more ball every time under the roof on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The Spaniard, whose adventurous brand of tennis has made him a crowd favourite everywhere he plays, was locked out of the 49-minute opening set by the world No. 7, whose elegant, single-handed backhand is a ‘wow’ factor on a whole different level. Each time the explosive Alcaraz broke in the second set, the Italian bounced right back, until he couldn’t.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The 23-year-old limped out of the men’s singles semifinals of the French Open on Friday. The 22-year-old Spaniard, seeded second, led 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 2-0 when the Italian pulled up short after two hours and 25 minutes of play, struggling with pain on his left leg. Musetti, who won a total of five points in the 23-minute third set, four of them on serve, was clearly struggling. At 0-5 in the third set, he called for the physio, and when he pulled off his headband after the second game of the fourth set, it was curtains.
Musetti, who will undergo tests on Saturday, said, “Really sad and disappointed at how it ended. At the beginning of the third set, when I was serving, I started to lose a little bit of strength on the left leg (behind), and it was getting worse and worse, so I decided to stop.
“In the beginning of the fourth set, I couldn’t go for rallies, I could not move like I was doing earlier in the match,” he said. “There was too much risk to go forward and to be able to show something even for the crowd.”
Musetti enjoyed a brilliant run on clay this year, reaching the semi-finals of all Masters 1000 events on clay and Roland Garros in the same season.
“We both started really well, I had to play my best level of the tournament to stay there with him,” Musetti said.
“I felt I stepped forward on my level today, felt closer to his level. I maintained the high level that we showed for twohours. So really happy about that, it’s a step forward, because the last two matches (against Alcaraz) were a little bit oneway. I felt that today I had my chances to even go two sets up, but of course Carlos, he’s playing really well. He deserves to go to the final.”
Musetti, who won more points in the first set 33 to 28, slipped behind in the second 39 to 44. The Spaniard had 32 unforced errors and 34 winners, 20 from the forehand side.
“It’s never great getting through or winning a match like this,” said Alcaraz. “Lorenzo is a great player. He has had an incredible clay season. I always wish him all the best, a quick recovery, and hopefully we are going to enjoy his tennis pretty soon.
“The first two sets were really tough,” said Alcaraz. “I had chances to break his serve, I couldn’t make the most of them. When I won the second set, there was a little bit of relief, and then in the third set I knew what I had to do at the beginning: just push him to the limit and try to be aggressive, not let him dominate the game more. I was calmer.”
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