Day 13 of the 2023 Roland Garros marked the end of the semis ahead of the weekend’s big final starting later today with the women’s singles between Iga Swiatek & Karolina Muchkova. Novak Djokovic still standing tall v Carlos Alcaraz after a fiery first half at 1-1 before Djokovic easily wrapped up the match (3-6, 7-5, 1-6, 1-6). So does Casper Ruud v Alexander Zverev when the dominated the court with a great start followed by overcoming close 2nd set battle & then an easy finish in straight sets (6-3, 6-4, 6-0).
So gutted to see Alcaraz being dropped out from the last 4, having fought back really well with a mix of impressive shots that saw him won the 2nd set. Sadly, not only he had a rough opening stage but couldn’t find top spot to build on that fightback where he was wiped out easily by Djokovic. Speaking of Djokovic, he had a great game particularly during the 2nd half after Alcaraz won the 2nd set. He knows his opponent is a great challenger who has high hopes for grand slam glory in the years to come as seen during the 2nd set. But he still has the experience & energy to rebound all the way quicksmart towards another grand slam final on clay.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t the exit Zverev was hoping for when he finally got the ball rolling with some excellent fightback, having fell short in the 2nd stage. While he did the best he can including a good restart to level Ruud at 1–1, but a poor start saw him fell behind as the match goes on & it was simply too much for him to climb back in the end. And on Ruud, he was brilliant thanks to a great start while taking his time to get past Zverev with a 2-0 lead. That way, he easily found the finish line where Ruud is now one match way from hopefully going third time lucky this time v Djokovic in the final tomorrow.
