Carlos Alcaraz says watching one of his rival’s matches at the French Open inspired him to give ‘100%’ during his thrashing of Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals.
The defending champion dropped just five games during his 6-0, 6-1, 6-4, win over the American on Tuesday evening. Impressively, Alcaraz won 88% of his first-service points and 83% of his second-service points. He didn’t face a single break point throughout the match and produced 40 winners against 22 unforced errors.
Alcaraz’s triumph occurred a day after Jannik Sinner also gave a clinical performance at the French Open, defeating 17th seed Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, in his fourth round match. The Italian is yet to drop a set in this year’s tournament.
“I love to watch matches on my days off, and yeah, let’s say he inspires me in some way just to give my 100% in every match,” Alcaraz said of Sinner.
“He sees how important it is to play at such a great level in the whole match, just to have more time to recover after the match. So I’m just trying to do it as well.
“But for me, it’s great to have tennis. I love Grand Slams for that because on my days off, I have great matches to watch and get inspired by watching them.”
The two tennis giants won’t clash with each other in Roland Garros unless they both reach the final. Alcaraz is the only player to have beaten Sinner since he returned to competitive tennis following a 90-day suspension for an anti-doping violation and he leads their head-to-head 7-4.
However, the Spaniard’s immediate focus is on another Italian in the shape of Lorenzo Musetti who awaits him in the semi-finals. A player who he dropped a set against in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters in April before storming to a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, victory. The world No.7 reached back-to-back semi-finals in Madrid and Rome before Paris.
“It’s going to be a beautiful battle, a beautiful match,” Alcaraz commented.
“I think we’re both playing great tennis. Monte Carlo final, semis in Rome, so it’s going to be great for the people to watch as well. I have to be ready for that match.”
Musetti is through to his second Grand Slam semi-final after Wimbledon last year. In his latest match, he shrugged off a code violation for ball abuse to beat Frances Tiafoe in four sets.
