French Open: Djokovic beats cramping Alcaraz to reach final

Djokovic makes 7th Paris final, edges closer to record 23rd Slam as Alcaraz is hit by injury


PARIS: The first of the French Open men's singles semifinals was shaping into an odyssey. Two hours on the clock and tennis was talking. The 20-year-old world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz against Novak Djokovic, more mental steel than iron ore in the mines. The conjunction was lurking in the early evening shadows.

The Spaniard's body, drained by the demands of the high-voltage exchange played under a blazing Parisian sky, failed to hold. His right leg, wracked by cramps, needed medical attention. Alcaraz conceded a game to get immediate help in the changeover, but he was too spent to recover in that time.

Djokovic, playing his 394th singles match at a Major, as against Alcaraz's 37th, moved into his 34th Grand Slam title-round clash, his seventh final in the French capital with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win in three hours and 23 minutes. Melbourne Park or Roland Garros, Flushing Meadows or SW19 - no one in the modern game has owned the five-set story quite like the 36-year-old.

"Tough luck for Carlos," Djokovic told Court Philippe-Chatrier. "The last thing you want is cramps and physical problems in the later stages of a Grand Slam, hopefully he can recover.

"At the net I told him he's young and that he will win this tournament many, many times. He deserves all the support and applause. It's always a tough decision whether to retire from the match or continue. He kept fighting till the end, great respect for that. We had both reached our physical limit, we went toe to toe in the first two sets," Djokovic reminded the full house.

Early in the third set, when following through on a forehand, Alcaraz clutched his right knee and was unable to move. A hush dropped over the sprawling grounds. Djokovic checked on his younger opponent.

The trainer was on the court and Alcaraz's coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, champion here 20 years ago, was at the edge of his seat. The Spaniard went through the motions in the third set, perhaps buying time in the hope that he would recover and make the fourth set more competitive.

Alcaraz took a medical time out at the end of the third set and when he returned to the court six-minutes later the crowd roared, but it was obvious right from the start that he was on the court only because he didn't want to concede a major semifinal.

Djokovic, who won Wimbledon last July and the Australian Open in January, extended his Grand Slam winning streak, since his last loss to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals here last year, to 20 matches.

Gurus of the game had backed Alcaraz to make the final, but Djokovic, a sturdy scriptwriter, had different plans. He played a tactically superior first set. The Serb denied Alcaraz the pace he so relishes off the forehand, while hammering his backhand.