The men’s singles semifinals will be played on Friday in Paris, as will semifinals in both men’s and women’s doubles.
The ATP singles semifinals feature three of the four top seeds, and the other player is the only of the four to have reached the championship match at Roland Garros, which he did in both of the last two years. Which of the four will become a first-time French Open champion on Sunday?
The first singles semifinal of the day is a blockbuster, between the two best male players of the new generation. Reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, who will become the new World No.1 on Monday, takes on reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, who would become the new World No.2 if he wins this title. Their matches have provided some of the most scintillating tennis of the last few years. Who will win the ninth chapter of their developing rivalry?
The second semifinal sees Sascha Zverev try to overcome a 1-6 record in Major semifinals, against two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud, who is 3-0 in Major semifinals. And it’s a rematch from the same round of this same event a year ago, when Ruud demolished Zverev, dropping just seven games.
Carlos Alcaraz (3) vs. Jannik Sinner (2) – Not Before 2:30pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
The most notable of their previous matches is their epic US Open quarterfinal from 2022, which lasted over five hours and ended at nearly 3:00am local time. Alcaraz prevailed 6-3 in the fifth, in a match that featured a mind-boggling level of tennis across all five hours. Carlitos would go on a few days later to win his first Major, while Jannik would have to wait nearly 18 months to win his.
Overall they have split eight prior encounters at tour level, though Sinner claimed their only meeting on clay. That was the final of Umag two summers ago, when Jannik came back from a set down to win in three. In their only matchup of 2024, it was Alcaraz coming from a set down to hand Sinner his first loss of the year, in the Indian Wells semifinals.
That remains one of only two losses for the Italian this season, as he’s now 33-2. The other was in the semifinals of Monte Carlo, at the hands of Stefanos Tsitsipas. Despite battling illness and a hip injury prior to this fortnight, Sinner has dropped only one set to this stage.
Alcaraz has also been struggling with an injury of late, to his right arm. But that has not seemed to impact his form, as the Spaniard has also only dropped one set. Carlitos is 23-5 on the year, and 2-2 in Major semifinals, while Jannik is 1-1.
Since last fall, Sinner has clearly been the best male singles players in the world. By contrast, Alcaraz has struggled since losing an epic final in Cincinnati last summer to Novak Djokovic, and has only claimed one title since winning Wimbledon nearly a year ago. However, while Carlitos’ two Major titles have come on a hard court and a grass court, clay is the surface he grew up on, and the one he is most comfortable on.
This feels like a monumental semifinal, and it will likely have Major implications at this tournament and beyond. With Djokovic and Nadal both already eliminated, the winner of this matchup between the ATP’s two best players will be the favorite in Sunday’s championship match. And with Djokovic having undergone knee surgery earlier this week, Sinner and Alcaraz will also be the two favorites next month to win Wimbledon.
On Friday, I give the slight edge to Alcaraz. Sinner is yet to solidify himself as an elite clay court player, as the aforementioned Umag title remains his only one on this surface. Jannik’s other three victories over Carlitos have come on faster courts (Wimbledon, Miami, Beijing), while Alcaraz has now beaten Sinner in both of the last two years in Indian Wells, which plays at a speed closer to a clay court. Regardless of the outcome, these two young men seem primed to deliver another classic encounter.
Casper Ruud (7) vs. Sascha Zverev (4) – Last on Court Philippe-Chatrier
It has already been quite a tournament for Zverev, who plays while a trial regarding domestic abuse allegations against him is ongoing in Germany. He drew 14-time champion Nadal in the first round, impressively defeating the King of Clay in straight sets. Sascha would go on to win back-to-back five-setters, over Tallon Griekspoor and Holger Rune, before taking out Alex de Minaur in the last round in straight sets.
Ruud’s road to this semifinal was also quite complicated. He required four sets to overcome both Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Taylor Fritz, and five against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. But in the quarterfinals, he received a walkover from an injured Novak Djokovic. Casper now vies for his third consecutive Roland Garros final, and every time he has advanced beyond the fourth round of a Major, he’s gone all the way to the championship match.
However, we’ve seen in previous years how receiving a walkover in the later round of a Slam often leads to defeat in the next round. The most relevant example is when Djokovic received a walkover from Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the 2011 Roland Garros quarterfinals. In the very next round, Roger Federer ended Novak’s perfect season to date, as Djokovic had won his first 43 matches of the year. Players are creatures of habit, and Ruud having three full days off between matches may disrupt his rhythm.
But perhaps even more troubling is Zverev’s 1-6 record in Major semifinals. And his only victory came in an empty stadium at the 2020 US Open, when he came from two sets down against a tight Pablo Carreno Busta. Of course it was in the semifinals of this event two years ago when Sascha suffered a gruesome ankle injury that ended his season. And a year ago, Ruud defeated Zverev in this round by a score of 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.
Overall they have split four previous meetings, with the other three occurring on hard courts. But a year after their last matchup at this same tournament, Sascha is a much stronger player. 12 months ago, he had not fully rediscovered his form coming off the ankle injury.
Both men achieved good results on clay coming into this fortnight: Ruud advanced to the final of Monte Carlo and won Barcelona, while Zverev won Rome, and is currently on an 11-match winning streak. In another tough semifinal to call, I lean towards Zverev to extend his winning streak on Friday. He feels due for a semifinal victory at a Major, and Sascha is currently playing with more confidence than he’s possessed in a few years. And in what will likely be a close contest, Zverev’s serving prowess may be the difference, along with his tremendous record of 23-2 in tiebreakers at Roland Garros.
Other Notable Matches on Friday:
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (1) vs. Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic (9) – Granollers and Zeballos are looking to reach their fourth Major final, though they’re yet to win one. Arevalo won this event in men’s doubles two years ago alongside France’s Jean-Julien Rojer, while Pavic is a three-time Major champion in men’s doubles, with three different partners. This is a rematch from the final in Rome a few weeks ago, where Granollers and Zeballos prevailed 6-2, 6-2. The winners will face Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the championship match on Saturday.
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (11) vs. Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse – Paolini is looking to match what Errani did here in 2012: advance to the final in both women’s singles and women’s doubles. That year, Errani was the runner-up in singles, and a champion in doubles. Kostyuk and Ruse were also semifinalists at the last Major in Melbourne.
Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk (8) vs. Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova (5) – Gauff will look to bounce back from another disappointing loss to Iga Swiatek on Thursday. This is the third consecutive year Coco has reached the semifinals or better at Roland Garros in women’s doubles. Siniakova won this event twice alongside Barbora Krejickova. Dolehide is 0-4 in Major semis in this discipline, while Krawczyk was a runner-up here in 2020.
Friday’s full Order of Play is here.
