TOPSHOT - Spain's Carlos Alcaraz (L) and Serbia's Novak Djokovic shake hands at the end of their ... [+]
The dream semifinal at the French Open is set.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Novak Djokovic will meet in a historic showdown on Friday after both players won their quarterfinals Tuesday.
“This is a clash we’ve been wanting as tennis fans,” two-time French Open champion Jim Courier said on Tennis Channel.
“They haven’t been able to play in a lot of the same tournaments in recent times due to injuries and vaccination status, but they are here and we are locked in for Friday afternoon. That is going to be something very special.”
Djokovic, 36, came first, dropping the first set to No. 11 Karen Khachanov of Russia before storming back for a 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Alcaraz, 20, then put on a display for the ages by taking No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runner-up to Djokovic in 2021, to the woodshed in a 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(5) destruction during the night match. Alcaraz won seven straight games bridging the second and third sets. Tsitsipas saved three match points in the third set before rallying to force a tiebreak, where he fought off two more match points before Alcaraz won it with a serve-and-volley.
Djokovic can replace Alcaraz as No. 1 in the ATP Rankings by lifting a record 23rd major title in Paris. Alcaraz is seeking his second major title after winning the U.S. Open last September.
Alcaraz is the betting favorite to win the title at -160, per FanDuel, with Djokovic next at +200.
The tournament winner will take home about $2.5 million, while the semifinalists receive $683,698. The runner-up earns $1,248,019.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz runs to play a shot against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas during their ... [+]
Against Khachanov, Djokovic did not earn a break point in the opening two sets but raised his game from the second-set tie-break onwards on Court Philippe-Chatrier to earn a win in 3 hours, 38 minutes.
“I think he was the better player for most of the [first] two sets,” said Djokovic in his on-court interview. “I was struggling to find my rhythm. I made a lot of unforced errors and came into the match quite slow, quite sluggish. But I played the perfect [second-set] tie-break, really, and from that moment I played a couple of levels higher than I did at the beginning.
“[There was] a little bit of a scare towards the end of the fourth set, but I managed to win eight points in a row to finish it off. It’s a big fight. It’s something that you expect in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam. You’re not going to have your victories handed over to you. You’ve got to earn them, so I’m just glad to overcome the big challenge of today.”
Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts after scoring a point against Russia's Karen Khachanov during their ... [+]
While there was much hype about a possible Alcaraz-Djokovic final in Rome last month, neither player made it that far. Alcaraz was upset by world No. 135 Fabian Marozsan in the round of 32 in arguably the biggest upset of the year. Djokovic lost to eventual finalist Rune in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Rune, the No. 6 seed, remains alive on the bottom half of the Roland Garros draw and will face No. 4 Casper Ruud in one quarterfinal on Wednesday.
No. 22 Alexander Zverev of Germany will face Tomás Martín Etcheverry of Argentina in the other quarterfinal Wednesday.
The tournament opened up when Rafael Nadal, the 14-time French Open champion and world No. 15, withdrew due to injury.
He later announced that 2024 would be his final season on tour.
Without Nadal in the tournament, someone else will lift the trophy on June 11.
“There's opportunity now at Roland Garros with Rafa not in the draw,” Jim Courier said ahead of the tournament. “I mean, look, we don't know what level Rafa would have been able to bring had he been healthy enough to give it a go, but he is still Rafa there, and there's an intimidation factor that is clear.
“Now there's a little bit of open space.”