Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz Wins Maiden Roland Garros Title
Carlos Alcaraz has won his first French Open title in an exciting five-set match against Alexander Zverev.
The 21-year-old Spaniard fought back after losing the first set twice to eventually win 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in over four hours. It’s his third major title, adding to his wins at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Alcaraz’s victory was cheered by the crowd, and he celebrated by falling to the ground in joy.
“When I finished school, I put the TV on just to watch this tournament, and now I’m lifting the trophy in front of all of you, so thank you very much for the whole journey,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
“[With] the crowd has been a great journey since the first match until today. I have good words [for] you guys. The support has been unbelievable; not only in the matches but in practice as well. I feel at home. You made this tournament so special, and I’ll see you soon.”
The third seed had exploded out of the blocks, breaking Zverev in the first game, but the German bit back straight after to level the scores.
Alcaraz broke to love at 3-2 and saw out the opening game confidently, thundering a forehand winner to snare first blood.
Zverev, the fourth seed, began to control the second set, breaking at 3-2 with Alcaraz miscuing a forehand, before the Spaniard uncharacteristically double-faulted to make it 5-2 and give the German a double-break cushion, and he crunched a forehand winner on top of the net to level proceedings.
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The pair traded holds for the first six games of the third, before Alcaraz began to put his foot down on the accelerator, conjuring more ferocity off his forehand wing to break at 4-2, before holding under pressure to make it 5-2 and move to within a game of a two sets to one lead.
However, Zverev fought back to get the match back on serve, with a sizzling backhand pass to break back, a shot that had Alcaraz throwing himself to the Parisian dirt with his racquet flailing.
Zverev held to love as his confidence grew, and the German utilised his momentum to then break, with the Spaniard netting a backhand.
Stunning net defence from Zverev teed up his set point, dictating with his groundstrokes from side to side, before delivering a vicious drive-volley that Alcaraz could only palm into the net.
Alcaraz had been two set to one down against Jannik Sinner in his semi-final, and he dug deep here in a bid to seal the same result.
A comfortable hold was followed up by a breathtaking curling forehand line winner to seal the service break, consolidated by a love-hold.
He broke once more with an exquisite dropshot to make it 4-0, but Zverev kept a foothold in the set with a break-back immediately after.
However, Alcaraz regained his composure to crack his opponent’s serve once more, drawing level as Zverev netted a dropshot.
The third game of the decider was a wretched one for Zverev, as his unforced errors shot up as Alcaraz raced into a 0-40 lead, breaking to love as the fourth seed planted a backhand long.
Zverev continued to apply pressure as best he could, serving big and rushing to the net to make Alcaraz as uncomfortable as possible.
But the star quality of the Spanish starlet was just too good, as, at 4-2, he produced a sensational flicked backhand pass to tee up three break points, before ripping a forehand down the line to give himself a chance to serve for the championship.
He did so assuredly with quality; a big serve and long Zverev return setting up two championship points, and a final angled forehand to seal the title.
