Alcaraz saved 3 match points against Sinner to win the longest final in the history of the French Open
Carlos Alcaraz won his fifth Grand Slam title on Sunday at Roland Garros. He saved three match points in the fourth set to come back from behind to defeat Yannick Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2) to become only the third man in the Open era to save at least one title point in a Grand Slam final and win the title.
This final is one of the most intriguing and exciting chapters of tennis in modern times after the Big Three. Alcaraz and Sinner met for the first time at the Paris ATP1000 Masters 2021 and had never met in a Grand Slam final before. The long-awaited matchup not only lived up to expectations, but also made history – taking 5 hours and 29 minutes, making it the longest final in the history of the French Open.
Alcaraz joins Gaston Gaudio (against Coria at the 2004 French Open) and Novak Djokovic (against Federer at Wimbledon 2019) to save a title point in a Grand Slam final and become the ninth man in the Open era to come back from two sets down to win a Grand Slam final.
The highlight-reel clash culminated at the end of the fourth set and the end of the fifth. When Alcaraz faced defeat at 3-5, 0/40 in the fourth set, he showed the "vow" that "the Spaniard will never give up", saving three championship points on serve and then successfully breaking to completely turn the tide. (Alas!) If it is not broken, it will be broken - subvert the "truth" that cannot be broken! ）
A tsunami resounded through the Parisian night sky as the 22-year-old showed his resolve in the deciding set. After failing to win the 5-4 service game, he regrouped and launched a final attack. In the first final in French Open history, in which the winner was decided by a tiebreaker, the Spaniard withstood the pressure and became only the third man to successfully defend his French Open title this century, joining Gustavo Kurten and Rafael Nadal.
After five hours of hard-fought action, Alcaraz put up his best in the final tie-break. Under intense pressure, he blasted four winning points, including a whizzing cross-ball from the championship point that ran to a straight forehand and Sinner could only watch the final ball go down the line.
"I want to say thank you to my team and my family," Alcaraz said after the game, "and it's an honour to go through these great moments with you. It's incredible how many people from my hometown of Murcia are supporting me today. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the past two weeks, including my family who didn't make it to the scene, and this trophy belongs to you. ”
After the ecstasy, Alcaraz fell to his knees in celebration and then hugged Sinner, showing their affection. The 22-year-old now holds a five-set record of 13-1, while Sinner's five-set record has dropped to 6-10.
"First of all, Carlos, congratulations. It was an incredible show, a great matchup, everything was great," Sinner said at the ceremony, "and hats off to you and your team, you did a great job." I'm happy for you, you deserve it. It's a lot harder to talk than to play now. Of course, I would like to thank my team for helping me get to where I am today. We did our best today, and we were still glorious despite defeat. It wasn't that long ago that we couldn't have imagined that we would be here, so it's still an amazing event, although it's hard to accept now. ”
The win was Alcaraz's 37th tour win of the season (leading the ATP) and extending his record against Sinner to 8-4 and now five wins in a row. Alcaraz, meanwhile, continued his record of winning all Grand Slam finals (five wins from five fights) and became the third youngest man in history to reach five Grand Slam milestones, behind Bjorn Borg (21) and Rafael Nadal (22).
The Grand Slam final is two sets behind and the record is reversed
Alcaraz arrives in Paris with the aura of Monte Carlo and Rome Masters champions. With a second French Open trophy, he joined Thomas Muster (1995) and Nadal (2005-08, '10, '12-13, '17-18), becoming the only player since 1990 to win multiple clay-court Masters and French Open titles in a single season. After withdrawing from the Madrid Masters with an adductor injury, he quickly relocated and played one of the best performances of his career.
Alcaraz has now won 20 Tour titles, becoming the first post-00 player to reach this milestone.
Sinner, who won the Australian Open this season, was expected to become only the fifth man in the Open era to win three Grand Slams in a row. He knocked out three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, but he couldn't get past Alcaraz. It was Sinner's first major final defeat (previously 3-1), and 1976 champion Adriano Panata remains the only Italian male player to lift the Musketeers Cup in the Open era.
Despite the loss in the final, Sinner still holds the top spot in the PIF ATP rankings with a huge margin of 2030 points. As the defending champions, Alcaraz failed to add points to the tournament, while Sinner picked up 500 points from last year's semi-final defeat (also to Alcaraz).
The first set was fiercely contested, with 11 break points in 10 games, eight of which were saved. Sinner used a strong baseline attack and aggressive on-court position to overpower Alcaraz, who called a medical timeout at 4-5 with mud in his eyes. After the pause, Sinner broke serve and won the first set with a first set point after 63 minutes.
At the beginning of the second set, Sinner continued to play aggressively and quickly took a 3-0 lead. At 5-2, Alcaraz looked set up, but Alcaraz increased his aggression and strengthened his net to make it three games in a row to 5-5. After that, Sinner showed stability, withstood the sound of the audience, and won the tie-break with the depth of the bottom line, leading 2-0.
But Alcaraz didn't collapse in the third set. He pressed his opponent from close to the baseline, and after being broken in the first game, he completed a crucial break in the 10th game to win the set 6-4.
In the fourth set, Alcaraz was in a desperate situation of 3-5, 0/40, first watched Sinner hit a forehand out of bounds to resolve the first championship point, and then the opponent made a mistake in receiving the serve, pulled the net on the baseline, and successfully broke serve after saving three points in a row, and finally dragged the match into the deciding set through a tie-break.
Alcaraz failed to finish the match with a 5-4 service win in the deciding set, and after Sinner broke serve, Alcaraz exploded in the tie-break, blasting a number of high-reliant winning points to ignite the match. In the end, Alcaraz won the final set 7-6 (10-2) in the tie-break!
The previous French Open final was the 4 hours and 42 minutes clash between Mats Wilander and Guillermo Vilas in 1982, with Alcaraz extending the record by 47 minutes.
Alcaraz and Sinner have won the last six Grand Slam titles. Does this mark the end of the era of the Big Three dominating tennis?!
[Come and see me] [Zuoyi] [Flicking fists] [Heart]
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