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Carlos Alcaraz comes out strong v Jannik Sinner out of a five-setter where he will be joined by Alexander Zverev in a bid to win the Men’s Roland Garros Final this Sunday 

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What a semi final to remember on clay last night by the young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz who is now on his way to Sunday’s big Roland Garros Final at Court Phillipe Chatrier after overcoming Australian Open champ Jannik Sinner in a long five-set contest.

Yes, he had a really poor start with Sinner winning the easy first set’s play. However, Alcaraz finally got the ball rolling where he managed to equalise his opponent at 1-1 apiece. Although Sinner never backed down in the hope of getting the job done following his 3rd set rebound, but at the end of the day, Alcaraz is the man that showed the best physical and mental toughness through the very end of that semi-final. The Spaniard rolled out the 5th and final decider following another close equalising set before he eventually found a way to close things out so quickly after a long afternoon on-court.

The final score was 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and 6-3 at Court Phillipe Chatrier.

Alcaraz has unfinished business off the back of his Wimbledon triumph last year despite some disappointments along the way. But he’s stepped up well into the next level at Roland Garros where it will be first big final there in the hope of winning his 3rd grand slam title. He first won the US Open two years ago before Wimbledon last year as 2024 could be the year he wins here and then come January he finally wins at Melbourne Park in 2025 – how about that? For now, he’s never backed down all along to stay in the game as just need to get that ball rolling right from the word go in the first set & he’ll get what he wants.

And Sinner unable to grasp the best out of Alcaraz when he just couldn’t close the game out despite leading a few times. He got straight into it to begin with where the Italian had some good moments to keep in check but then began to slip away once Alcaraz settled in after some time when pressure began to mount on him big time including the 5th set decider before it was too late in the end. It’s gutting to see him fall short after an outstanding last half year as said with the Davis Cup win for Italy & the Australian Open, but this was his first breakthrough (semis) on clay as he will surely look to rebound next time.

Alcaraz’s next opponent for Sunday’s men’s singles final will be joined by Alexander Zverev from Germany who defeated Alex De Minaur the other day during the Quarter-Final. Like the Spaniard, he too have bounced back so fast from the opening set down including a tight 3rd set battle v Norwegian Casper Ruud to book his 2nd major grand slam Final since the 2020 US Open. Having still yet to win a grand slam trophy at 27 following his first time loss to the now retired Dominic Thiem (Austria), can he really break his duck other than winning an Olympic Gold by defying the 21-year-old wonderkid? If not, will see unfinished business by seeing Alcaraz winning another first time major on clay who still has a big future ahead? It all comes down to this come Sunday night (our time) where it’s okay to stay up now going into overnight since the King’s Birthday public holiday (depending on where you live mainly in most states except WA and QLD) takes place the next day on Monday.

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Today’s Tennis match, Max Purcell falls short in a four hour, five-set marathon v Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud after a mighty effort all around at Margaret Court Arena

by Sports Benches

Oh so close but Norwegian Casper Ruud has just won the match as Max Purcell left the men’s singles draw with so much applause from the crowd at Margaret Court Arena. He too has put up such a top notch effort right through the very end before things just didn’t end up his way after four hours of play this afternoon. The final score was 3-6, 7-6 with 7-5 tiebreaker, 3-6, 6-3 & 6-7 with 7-10 tiebreaker.

He’s got the fight Purcell needs to keep it up with such a Top 15 seeded player in Ruud, which wasn’t easy. But He bounced back really well as seen during the 2nd set tiebreak and the 4th set to give himself a lifeline ahead of the 5th & final decider. He looks like he was almost there to bring home an upset against someone he has known from his junior competition days, but just couldn’t quite escape right of time at the finish line there with the loss. It’s his best performance yet in the 2R at this grand slam alongside the Roland Garros in Paris last year as he is 25 right now with the room to improve throughout this year.

Meanwhile, what a player he is from Ruud who proved to be the better challenger after being established at other slams grams over the last few years. Although he has yet to advance past the 4th Round so far here back in 2021, but this is his greatest day today ahead of his next match-up against Briton Cameron Norrie who also got away from his own five set escape v Giulio Zeppieri from Italy. He fired off well with a great start to bring an early lead. Now he might have struggled to keep up the consistency as exposed by Purcell at times, but he managed to stay ahead by regrouping himself towards the end with patience for the win. He has some unfinished business left though with back-to-back 2nd round results off the back end of last year at Wimbledon & the US Open respectively.

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2022 French Open Day 15: Rafa Nadal pulled off way comfortably against Casper Ruud en route to his 22nd grand slam title here at Court Philippe Chatrier

by Sports Benches

What a way to close out after 15 days of top-standard grand slam tennis with the men’s singles’ final in this year’s French Open. World No.8 from Norway Casper Ruud did his best to hold out Rafa earlier on between the 1st and 2nd sets. But it’s Rafa who was outstanding for the whole time that blew Ruud away so easily with the championship win at Court Philippe Chatrier; 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.

It’s not the ending Casper Ruud hoped for after he finished runner-up in his first ever grand slam singles’ final at age 23. He showed some fight when trying to catch up to Nadal earlier on, as well as the 2nd set restart where Ruud got the better momentum there. However, a poor opening set start and a lack of 2nd half pull robbed him the chance to shut down Rafa, before he was comfortably beaten without any game registered by the 3rd & final set. What he can learn from his first-ever grand slam final is for Ruud to take out these positives that helped him work his way through this men’s singles draw, and try go go one better later this year at Wimbledon and/or US Open. There’s still plenty of time left to make history of world tennis throughout this 2020s decade.

And once again this is grand slam title No.22, as well as his 14th French Open Championship for Rafa Nadal aka The King of Clay. He fired off comfortably with a decent early lead against Ruud where the Norwegian may have held Rafa back a bit when he was being tested. But he was simply too good where he had the better experience, patience, fightback & execution to pull off from start to finish in three straight sets. It will be interesting to see if Rafa can complete the clean sweep with all four grand slam titles in the one year going into Wimbledon in a few weeks, as well as the US Open in late August-early September. He also just turned 36 a few days ago where this will be his next and last golden target before Rafa retires.

Two grand slams done, two to go. We now turn our attention to The Championships at Wimbledon in London, England, from Monday June 27 to Sunday July 10.

#Tennis #RafaNadal #CasperRuud #FrenchOpen #GrandSlam #RolandGarros #Spain #Norway #CourtPhilippeChatrier #ATPTour

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2022 French Open Day 13: Marin Cilic’s brilliant opening set spell was cancelled by Casper Ruud’s comeback that decided the 2nd and final spot for Sunday’s Final

by Sports Benches

It was a fast and easy start from the 20th seed in Croatian Marin Cilic with the opening set lead. However, his momentum quickly went downhill when Casper Ruud from Norway fought back at 1-1 apiece after the break before Ruud pulled off further away from Cilic comfortably that secured his French Open final spot towards the finish line. The final score is 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Marin Cilic’s fairytale run has just came to an end. He got the ball rolling for a start with the early lead but then fell off a cliff ever since when he just couldn’t find the consistency to stay in this fight. Not only he was gutted to be held short while making some lost time during the next set, but he was blown away so easily through the 3rd & 4th sets that marked his exit out of the Final 4. It’s good to see him being back to his best though at age 33, having last made the grand slam finals back in the 2018 Australian Open where he was runner-up to Roger Federer.

And on Casper Ruud, take a bow as he will gear up for his first ever grand slam final appearance tomorrow v Rafa Nadal. He never looked out of place even though Ruud couldn’t bridge that gap to Cilic earlier in the first set. But it’s all about the finish where Ruud stood out as the better player from last night. The patience & response he saw right into Cilic’s game helped the Norwegian deny him a 2-0 lead, as well as tie at 1-1 before Ruud proved too good to wrap this up just under the three-hour mark.

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2022 French Open Day 11: Holger Rune’s sensational run has come to an end as Casper Ruud books semi-final place tomorrow v Marin Cilic

by Sports Benches

The Final Four is all set for Day 13 tomorrow at the French Open; Rafa Nadal v Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud v Marin Cilic. Casper Ruud proved too good to pull off at the start while youngster Holger Rune isn’t an easy opponent to face when he made up some lost time from the opening set down. But it’s Ruud who responded well to Rune’s competitiveness when he denied him a 3rd set closer at the tiebreak followed by a win that sent the Dane out of the Quarter-Finals here at Court Philippe Chatrier. The final score is 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 via 7-2 tiebreaker. 6-3.

Well, it’s been a great run but it all has to come to an end from 19-year-old Dane Holger Rune. He responded really well from the opening set down where Rune showed lots of fight to try and keep his French Open campaign alive. However, the poor starts really let him down after he was easily blown away while he just couldn’t kick on when Rune fell short in the 3rd set before he was over and done by Ruud. It’s his first grand slam knockout appearance which is quite a remarkable achievement just under 20 years old. He’s sure to create many more moments including the moment when Rune gets to win his first grand slam title.

And job well done to World No.8 Casper Ruud from Norway with the win. He never looked out of place having fired off to a fast start; he also didn’t hesitate on the young Dane when Ruud lost the 2nd set before he held back Rune at the tiebreak & pulled off his way further towards the finish line. This tie was his first grand slam Quarter-Finals appearance as his brilliant run at the French Open continues into the Final Four tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if he can knock off Marin Cilic for a spot in the final this Sunday with either Rafa Nadal or Alexander Zverev.

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2022 French Open Tennis, Day 9: Holger Rune upsets World No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas that earned him a spot into the Quarter-Finals

by Sports Benches

It looks like we have a new challenger ahead of the French Open Quarter-Finals v 8th seed Casper Ruud (Norway) in 19-year-old Holger Rune from Denmark, who upsetted World No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas yesterday on Day 9 during the fourth round at Court Philippe-Chatrier. The opening two sets was tight between the two competitors with Rune started off well for the early lead while Tsitsipas tied 1-1 apiece. But Rune was too good in the 3rd set before he shut the door on Tsitsipas following another series of close duels; 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Commiserations from Tsitsipas with the shock defeat there. He really put in his absolute best during every game that helped earned his way as a Top 5 grand slam player, even though he hasn’t won any titles yet so far. Tsitsipas had to work his way from the opening set down where he almost held Rune back which would’ve gone towards the 5th & final set decider of this tie. However, it wasn’t his day when Tsitsipas just couldn’t match the consistency & execution that Holger Rune offered in the end.

And congratulations to Rune who emerged himself as the next elite grand slam star in the making from Copenhagen, Denmark. He played an really exceptional game that tested him well against a player with plenty of grand slam finals experience. The strong starts are shown through each and every set, as well as the response to fight back from the 2nd set down, before he held off a really competitive battle right through the wire where Rune’s patience and fight helped knock down one of the current Top-5 ranked players in Tsitsipas. What a moment it has been from this rising star!

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