ATP Tour

Preview: Alcaraz peaking for Musetti matchup in Roland Garros SFs

Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti have already met twice this season on the ATP Masters 1000 stage, with the Spaniard victorious in the Monte-Carlo final and the Rome semis. The Spaniard now seeks his sixth consecutive Lexus ATP Head2Head win against Musetti in the Roland Garros semi-finals.

The defending champion at the clay-court major, Alcaraz enters Friday's match in peak form. After battling through a trio of four-setters in Paris, Alcaraz played his best match of the fortnight in the quarter-finals to dismiss Tommy Paul with the loss of just five games. The No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has not enjoyed such a dominant victory at Roland Garros since the opening round of his 2024 title run.

"I could close my eyes and everything went in," said Alcaraz, who did not face a break point behind an 89 per cent win rate on first serve, according to Infosys Stats. "My feeling today was unbelievable. I was trying to hit every shot at 100 per cent, not thinking about anything else, but just hitting. Today was one of those matches when everything just went in."

That such a performance came against Paul, who is set for a new career high after moving up to No. 8 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, adds an air of invincibility for the Spaniard. But Musetti began Roland Garros at a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 7 and is up to No. 6 in the Live Rankings. He would move to No. 4 with a semi-final victory.

The Italian has not beaten Alcaraz since their first meeting in 2022, a three-set thriller in the Hamburg final. Beginning with their ensuing meeting, at Roland Garros in 2023, Alcaraz has dropped just one set in six wins.

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This April in Monte-Carlo, Musetti rose to the occasion in his first ATP Masters 1000 final to claim a 6-3 opening set against Alcaraz. But he won just one game after that, hampered by a right-leg injury. One month later in the Rome semi-finals, Alcaraz played a pragmatic match in windy conditions to knock out the home favourite, showing composure and grit to earn a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory. He went on to win the title by beating Jannik Sinner in the trophy round.

Watch Alcaraz-Musetti Rome highlights:

An Alcaraz-Sinner rematch could await in the Roland Garros final, but Musetti will have his shot to dethrone the champ first. Any upset bid will start with protecting his serve, a shot Musetti has improved this season after some offseason tweaking.

"We shortened a bit the motion to have more control, and then I got more confidence in what I was having as a motion," he said, noting previous struggles with consistency and his toss. "Right now I think in really many difficult situations, I make an ace or have my serve as a weapon, and it was a pretty big change also for my game."

Musetti's overall game earned praise from Alexander Zverev this week, with the German commenting on the "very stable" tennis he has found during the clay-court season. Can the Italian build on that solid foundation and take his game to new heights?

Less than two months after he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final, he is one victory away from his first Grand Slam title match. But Alcaraz, one year younger at 22, is already a seven-time Masters 1000 champ and four-time major titlist.

The 23-year-old Musetti has earned his place among the game's elite with his breakthrough season. Now he has a chance to prove he can beat the very best on the biggest stage.