Grinning from ear to ear during the decisive tiebreak, Carlos Alcaraz erased a two-set deficit in a major for the first time in his career and erased three championship points to upend top-ranked Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 in Sunday’s majestic French Open men’s singles final. The crowd at Roland Garros applauded point after point throughout the final 10-point tiebreak as Alcaraz beat Sinner for a fifth consecutive time and stayed unbeaten in a Grand Slam final, albeit one of most improbable wins of the Spaniard’s career.
Alcaraz, now a five-time Grand Slam champion, is the first player to fight off triple-championship point in Paris, doing so in the fourth set before winning the match in a five-set tiebreak to highlight the 325-minute marathon — the second-longest men’s final majors match in the Open era. With a title quickly slipping away from Sinner, Alcaraz notched a break in the first game of the final set after his adversary failed to accurately return a well-placed drop.
Sinner grabbed a towel prior to the second game of the fifth and wiped moisture from his brow as the match neared the 4.5-hour mark before recapturing the lead at 6-5. After coasting through the first two sets with the French Open trophy within arm’s reach, Sinner had a chance to win it for the first time in several hours, but his opponent held serve. This came after Alcaraz jumped ahead 4-2 on the strength of Sinner questioning a serve’s landing spot after failing to return a rally drop a few hits later.
Alcaraz routinely cut-off court position and used angles to beat Sinner, who unraveled late while trying to solve powerful, deep returns and strong counters throughout the final three sets. Sinner appeared fresh coming off his semifinals win against Novak Djokovic anchored by a series of ferocious forehands in the opening set, but lost composure a bit after Alcaraz staved off elimination in the fourth.
Sinner was up 5-4, 40-0 and serving for the match in the fourth set before Alcaraz’s heroics capped a memorable two-week run on clay.
Now 4-8 against Alcaraz in his career, Sinner failed to avenge last year’s five-set semifinals loss in the French even after repeated corner to corner agility moves and fewer mistakes than his counterpart early on. Sinner played to his strengths throughout the final, providing his trademark subdued fist pump after every successful smashing pass, but could not seal the deal against Alcaraz.
Alcaraz ended Sinner’s 32 consecutive set winning streak in the third and finally responded to the Italian’s mega forehand and premium ball-striking skills in the fourth. Sinner’s streak was three short of tying Rafael Nadal and John McEnroe and four behind Roger Federer’s record-setting number of 36 straight major sets won in 2006-07. With the loss, Sinner dropped to 3-1 in his career in Grand Slam finals.
Alcaraz pushed Sinner, who was noticeably fatigued and less relaxed late, to his first four-set match since January — and then made him play another. Each competitor hit at least 10 forehands during the match that exceeded 100 miles per hour, a power display on clay reserved only for the top-two players in men’s tennis.
“It’s fun and not fun (to play Alcaraz). It’s both ways,” Sinner said before the marathon finale. “But I think we we try to push ourself in the best possible way. I believe when there is a good match, it’s also good to play. It’s not only to watch, but also to play. It’s very special. And the stage, it doesn’t get any bigger now. grand slam finals against Carlos, it’s a special moment for me and for him, too.”
Alcaraz beat Sinner in two sets last month at the Italian Open in Rome, but struggled to regain that same competitive flow until he faced what previously was an insurmountable deficit in a two-set hole by his own career standards. He earned a break in the second game of the third and used that momentum to eventually end Sinner’s lengthy set streak before mustering enough in the final moments during the tiebreak to give himself an opportunity to defend his French crown.
“Definitely great for tennis, both of them,” Djokovic said ahead of the first grand slam final played between two men’s singles players born in the 2000s. “I think their rivalry is something that our sport needs, no doubt. I’m sure that we’re going to see them lifting the big trophies quite often.”
Trailing by a set, Alcaraz earned his first break opportunity since the fifth game of the first set and applied pressure on Sinner after getting to 4-5 in the second. Alcaraz carried serve to get to 5-5 before battling in a thrilling tiebreak a few games later.
Unfazed by Alcaraz’s brief hot streak, Sinner was the first to break serve during the tiebreak and benefited from an ill-advised drop from his opponent after slipping beyond the base line at 4-2. Alcaraz’s shot landed just wide and Sinner took the tiebreak a few points later along with a commanding two-set advantage in the match.
Sinner takes early advantage after Alcaraz timeout
While trailing 5-4 in the first set, Alcarez stopped play to receive treatment from a trainer for several minutes after clay particles from a serve attempt appeared to drift into his eyes. Alcatraz lost the ensuing service game — and set — after being up a break at 3-2.
Alcaraz appeared frustrated with how the first set ended during the first game of second, shouting out his coach’s box before digging himself into a 3-0 hole. Alcaraz had won three of the last four meetings with Sinner after dropping the opening set and needed everything he had to extend that streak.
Sinner won 18 of 24 points at one junction to open the second set, including a couple errant mishits from Alcaraz on forehand volley attempts. After Sinner won a 23-shot rally to move ahead 40-15 in the third game, Alcaraz quickly fell behind 0-3 when another forehand try went into net.
“I’m going with the assumption that the eye’s okay, but the head’s not right and that’s causing problems,” McEnroe said during the second set. “The clay in the eye really seems to have thrown Alcaraz’s concentration.”
Alcaraz is now 1-8 all-time in majors after dropping the first two sets.
