Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz composed himself after a slow start before charging into back-to-back French Open finals when eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 4-6 7-6(3) 6-0 2-0 on Friday.
Alcaraz, who is attempting to become only the third man to retain his Roland Garros title this century after Rafa Nadal and Gustavo Kuerten, will face either world number one Jannik Sinner or 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final.
“It’s never great to go through like this,” Alcaraz said, before hailing Musetti’s achievement of reaching at least the semi-finals of all four elite claycourt events this year.
“He’s a great player, he has had an incredible claycourt season … I wish him a speedy recovery and I’m sure we’ll be enjoying his tennis pretty soon.”
Musetti twice denied Alcaraz the chance to break in the opening nine games before the 23-year-old suddenly dialled up the intensity and snatched the opening set when his Spanish opponent produced errors in a poor service game.
A frustrated Alcaraz kicked his bench during the second set but finally found a way through Musetti’s dogged defence to draw level after a tiebreak and then produced a dazzling display of power and precision to dish out a bagel in the third set.
Musetti, who reached the Monte Carlo final before the Madrid and Rome semi-finals, was hampered by the leg problem during the third set and threw in the towel two games into the fourth.
“I felt at the beginning of the third when I was serving, I started losing a little bit of strength on the left leg, and it was getting worse, so I decided to stop,” Musetti said.
“I think it was the right decision to make, even if it wasn’t what I wanted. Tomorrow I’ll do exams, and I’ll of course see and evaluate the situation.”
Alcaraz, who had his chances in the opening set, said he was relieved to be able to show his best level thereafter
