(Paris) Tennis fans will be able to enjoy a semi-final between Serbian Novak Djokovic and favorite Carlos Alcaraz at Roland-Garros.
The 20-year-old Spaniard beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(5), which will see him face the winner of 22 major tournaments.
In their only meeting, Alcaraz had the last laugh in three sets in Madrid last year.
Tsitsipas hurt his own cause with five double faults, in a match where Alcaraz picked up six breaks and outshot 36-21 for winners.
The Spaniard also had an exemplary performance at the net, 12 in 15, for 80%.
Djokovic prevailed 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 against Karen Khachanov, advancing to the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the 45th time in his career.
Roger Federer is the record holder on the men’s side with 46 appearances.
Victory against Khachanov, a semi-finalist in New York last September and Melbourne in January, saw the Serb find himself in the semi-finals at Roland Garros for the 12th time in his career.
Only Rafael Nadal has taken part more often, 15 times. He had hip surgery last week and had to miss the Paris tournament.
Djokovic won the French Grand Slam stage in 2016 and 2021); a 23rd prestigious title would allow him to surpass Nadal among tennis players.
Prior to facing Khachanov, Djokovic had won each of his 12 rounds so far in the tournament. But he admitted to having a “quite difficult, slow start to the game” on Tuesday.
The second round was hardly easier. At least, until the tiebreaker. That’s when the Serb “raised his level of play a few notches”, in his own words.
In the women’s draw, Karolina Muchova reached the semi-finals of a major tournament for the second time in her career.
Ranked 43rd in the world, the Czech dismissed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2.
Pavlyuchenkova played over three hours in her previous game and looked tired early in the game. She struggled to find her bearings and conceded many points without really fighting.
She tried to pull herself together by exploiting her powerful forehand, but her hopes of orchestrating a comeback were dashed when she found herself down 1-4 in the second set following another messy forehand. .
Pavlyuchenkova has missed most of the 2022 season due to a knee injury. By virtue of her 333rd place in the world, she nonetheless became the lowest-ranked player in the modern era to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros – and she became the lowest-ranked player to reach that stage- been competing in a Grand Slam tournament since 2017.
Muchova has also been plagued by injuries and abdominal discomfort that forced her to rest for six months after the 2021 U.S. Open. She also injured her ankle during her third-round match at the Open. from France last year.
Muchova made it to the semi-finals in Australia in 2021.
Her next rival will be Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka. She took the measure of Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4.
Sabalenka is from Belarus, and Svitolina – playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since becoming a mother – is Ukrainian. Belarus helped invade Ukraine in February 2022, and the war is still ongoing. As is the case with all players from Ukraine, including Sabalenka’s first-round opponent in Paris last week, Svitolina does not shake hands with players from Belarus or Russia after games. It happened again on Tuesday.
Separately, Japan’s Miyu Kato was relieved of $23,000 in prize money and her women’s doubles ranking points after accidentally hitting a ball attendant in the neck with a ball after a point during a match. However, she was granted permission to continue her activities in mixed doubles.
Kato’s women’s doubles partner, Indonesian Aldila Sutjiadi, was not punished.
