Battle Of The Titans: No. 1 Sinner, No. 2 Alcaraz To Meet In Roland Garros Final

It will be No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the Roland Garros men’s final on Sunday.

No. 1 Jannik Sinner will face No. 2 and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a dream matchup of two men who have combined to win the last five Grand Slam singles titles.

Sinner completed the dream final by taking out 24-time major champion and No. 6 seed Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3) in 3 hours, 16 minutes, after Alcaraz advanced over No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti. Sinner, 15 years younger than Djokovic, still has not lost a set in the tournament while advancing to his maiden Roland Garros final.

It was the first straight-sets loss in a major semifinal for Djokovic since Wimbledon in 2010 (Tomas Berdych).

Sinner will take a 20-match winning streak in majors into against Alcaraz, who beat the Italian three weeks ago in straight sets in the Rome final for his fourth straight win over Sinner. He is the first Italian man in the Roland Garros final since Adriano Panatta won the title in 1976.

Alcaraz leads the head-to-head, 7-4.

Alcaraz, 22, will be second seeking straight Roland Garros title and his fifth major crown, while Sinner is bidding for his third straight major championship and fourth overall.

On the women’s side, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will face No. 2 Coco Gauff in Saturday’s final.

This marks the first time since 1984 that the top two seeds will meet in the men’s and women’s final. That year No. 2 Ivan Lendl outlasted No. 1 John McEnroe in five sets, while No. 1 Martina Navratilova beat No. 2 Chrissie Evert in straight sets.

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Djokovic was attempting to make history by reaching the final, where he would have played for a record 25th major title. No man had ever beaten the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 players in the world to win a title, and Djokovic was unable to take the second step forward after beating No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.

He fell to 7-6 in Roland Garros semifinals on the same court where he beat Alcaraz to win an elusive Olympic gold medal last August.

“He walked off the court like we’re not sure if he’s going to be back [in Paris],” John McEnroe said on TNT. “Maybe he’s not sure if he’s going to be back.”

“He’s the GOAT but will he be willing to accept that he can’t really beat these guys anymore?”

Sinner broke for a 3-2 lead in the first set when Djokovic swung and missed on a forehand to the baseline.

After overpowering Djokovic to take the first set, Sinner broke for 4-3 in the second when he raced forward to retrieve a drop shot to extend the point before Djokovic sailed a forehand deep. The Serb walked to his chair with a dejected look on his face down a set and a break.

Djokovic broke back for 5-all, snapping a streak of 45 straight service holds for the Italian against the Serb.

But just as it looked like Djokovic might have turned the tables, Sinner broke again for 6-5 with a swinging forehand volley,.

He then served up an ace out wide to bring him to set point, followed by a service winner to seize a two-sets-to-love lead.

After two sets. Djokovic called a medical timeout and received treatment on his upper right leg.

Serving at 4-5, 15-40 in the third, Sinner fought off three set points to even the set.

In the tiebreak, Sinner raced out to a 3-0 lead. Djokovic saved one match point before Sinner won it when Djokovic hit a backhand into the net.