IT was brutal at its best, and clinical throughout as world number one Carlos Alcaraz tore apart Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter final at Roland Garos. The Spanish young gun who is hot favourite for the event, destroyed the 2021 finalist, dropping just three games in the first two sets, before requiring a little more to get it done in a third set tiebreaker.

In the space of two hours and 12 minutes, Alcaraz had stated his intention to storm to the French Open crown with a 6-2 6-1 7-6 victory over the Greek fifth seed and book a much anticipated semi-final clash with Serbian star, Novak Djokovic.

The Spaniard only dropped one point off his first serve in the first set, and four off his serve in total during that time, while hitting 13 winners to only four unforced errors. The second set was a similar vein with just the five points dropped on serve – including one double fault – while hitting seven winners for three unforced errors. By comparison, Tsitsipas sat at three and 13 for the set.

It took until the third set for the Greek hope to finally break the Spanish resistance, forcing him into a tiebreaker off the bback of an 11-winner and 11-unforced error breakeven set. Still, Alcaraz had the answers when it counted, and while he made a few more errors due to Tsitsipas getting more of his powerful shots in, he won 7-5 in the tiebreak to book his place in the semi-final.

“I believe in myself all the time. I would say that’s the most important thing — not only for me, I would say for everyone, believing in yourself,” Alcaraz said post-match. “I always think that I’m going to play these kind of matches in this level. I would say that’s the key of everything… with a joy. That’s the key.”

In the first of what will almost certainly be a regular fixture for the clay court star, Alcaraz reached his first Roland Garros semi-final. He now takes on the equal most Grand Slam titleholder in Djokovic. Alcaraz has won 12 straight matches at Grand Slam level, while Djokovic is on a 19-match winning streak himself, but one will have to give.

“This match, it is one everyone wants to watch,” Alcaraz said. “I would say it will be a really good match to play and to watch as well. I really want to play this match well.

“I always say that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Novak Djokovic right now is one of the best players in the world. “It is going to be a really tough match for me but I am really looking forward to playing that match.”

AROUND THE COURTS

Djokovic overcame early resistance from Russian 11th seed Karen Khachanov to win in four sets, 4-6 7-6 6-2 6-4. The match lasted three hours and 38 minutes, with Djokovic serving 11 aces to seven and hitting a whopping 57 winners to 38, as well as two less unforced errors (42-44) in the win.

In the women’s singles, second seed Aryna Sabalenka ended the memorable run of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in 96 minutes, booking her place in a semi-final after a 6-4 6-4 result. The Belarusian only served the one ace to three, but hit 30 winners to seven and was clinical at the net with a 71 per cent success rate.

Sabalenka will now take on Czech Karolina Muchova who defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-2 in an hour and 38 minutes. Muchova won 70 and 64 per cent of her first and second serve points compared to her opponents’ 52 and 45 per cent, as well as breaking five times to two to mov through to the final four.