French Open: Alcaraz steamrolls Tsitsipas to book Sinner semi-final

PARIS: Carlos Alcaraz halted a mid-match fightback by ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to secure a 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-4 win on Tuesday and set up a blockbuster French Open semi-final with incoming world number one Jannik Sinner.

The third seed, who came into the contest with a 5-0 record over Tsitsipas, caused all kinds of problems for his Greek opponent with high kick serves to the backhand and won the first set in 33 minutes.

The rematch of last year’s quarter-final looked set for the same result on Court Philippe Chatrier as Alcaraz broke and then held to go up 3-0 as Tsitsipas did not help his cause with an error-prone display early in the second set.

Tsitsipas worked the crowd after hitting a stinging forehand when down 4-2 and looked rejuvenated as he finally solved the puzzle with a break back before drawing level, but Alcaraz raised his game in the tiebreak to double his advantage.

A frustrated Tsitsipas repeatedly complained about Alcaraz’s delayed grunts and nearly struck him with an overhead smash in a feisty third set, but his Spanish opponent ran away with the match to reach his Roland Garros second-semi-final.

Paolini upsets Rybakina to reach semis

Italian surprise package Jasmine Paolini staved off a fightback from fourth seed Elena Rybakina to seal a stunning 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win on Wednesday and advance to the French Open semi-finals for the first time.

Playing in her first Grand Slam quarter-final, the 28-year-old Paolini got off to a confident start by winning the opening two games and forced her opponent to work hard to hold serve, before breaking again en route to taking the first set.

A sublime backhand winner gave Paolini another break in the third game of the next set but 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina responded with one of her own and slowly came to grips with the Italian’s power and precision.

Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina exchanged breaks with Paolini again but the 24-year-old held firm to level the contest at one set apiece and recovered after surrendering her serve at the start of the decider.

Paolini secured a hold to love to make it 4-4, playing at the level she showed early in the match and she took advantage of Rybakina’s errors to close out a famous victory to huge cheers inside the main showcourt.

With Jannik Sinner also reaching the last four, there will be Italians in the semi-finals of both the men’s and women’s singles at a major for the first time in the Open era.