Impressive Nole reached his seventh title match in Paris!
Third seed Novak Djokovic defeated top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz in four sets, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, to reach his 7th French Open final on Friday.
The Serbian star needed three hours and 23 minutes to move into his 34th Grand Slam final .
With the victory, Novak leveled his ATP H2H series against Alcaraz at 1-1.
Novak came out firing on Court Philippe-Chatrier, and he grabbed the opening set with a break in the fourth game.
Alcaraz started to find his rhythm in the second set. The Spaniard failed to convert his three set points on Djokovic’s serve in the 10th game, but eventually closed out the set breaking to love in the 12th game to level the contest.
The 20-year-old started to cramp at the start of the third set, which affected his game and performance. Novak went on to break his rival three times in the third set and twice in the fourth, to seal the win.
“First and foremost I have to say tough luck for Carlos. At this level, the last thing you want is cramps and physical problems in the late stages of a Grand Slam. I hope he can recover and come back very soon. I told him at the net, he knows how young he is, he has a lot of time ahead of him. He’s an incredible competitor, so he deserves all the applause and all the support. Congratulations to him for his fighting spirit and hanging in until the very end,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview.
Match statistics: aces (8-3), double faults (3-2), winners (39-35), unforced errors (36-50), total points won (128-100).
Chasing a record 23rd Major trophy, Novak takes on Casper Ruud (NOR) on Sunday at 14.30 CET. The fourth seed outplayed Alexander Zverev (GER, 22) 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.
It will be their fifth career H2H meeting (Novak leads 4-0).
Photo: Profimedia
