We saw two excellent match-ups to begin this year’s Quarter Finals in the men’s singles draw of the Roland Garros – one is where Carlos Alcaraz being too good following an easy win v Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-2, 6-1, 6-6 (7-5 tie)), while the other was a bit more intense between Novak Djokovic & Karen Khachanov (4-6, 6-6 (7-0 tiebreaker), 6-2, 6-4). That now puts both Alcaraz & Djokovic head-to-head for Friday’s 1st semi-final match-up (Day 13).
Not the day Tsitsipas wanted to see out on clay this year where he fired off not bad as well as being able to try and save himself in contention particularly during the third set & go from there, even though it might be a long hill to climb back. Sadly, his performance today wasn’t on par with the Spaniard where he fell way behind while beaten easily as this tie goes on. For Alcaraz, he was simply too good all around from start to finish. Yes, he had some challenges along the way during the 3rd set. But he was tested really well to hang in there before that tiebreak period gave him another chance to get the job done & he has done it en route to the last 4 here – legend v emerging grand slam champ for a spot in the Final, can’t wait!!
Commiserations to Khachanov who challenged Djokovic really well at times for the majority & knows how to get the ball rolling, having won the opening set + some near wins during 2nd & 4th set spells. But when it comes to being tested under all sorts of pressure, that is when his momentum began to nosedive during the 2nd set tiebreak & couldn’t rebound much through the rest of this tie. And Djokovic might had fell short in the opening set, but he never gave up by fighting back really well where he credits the 2nd set tiebreak as his turning point; So he can go on by overtaking Khachanov for the lead and finish this tie off calm & composed.
There’s two more QF ties left for Day 11 on the road for the 2nd semis match now with Alexander Zverev v Tomas Martin Etcheverry followed by Casper Ruud v Holger Rune.
