With Sinner 22 and Alcaraz just 21, this was the youngest Grand Slam semifinal since Andy Murray, then 21, beat Rafael Nadal, then 22, at the US Open in 2008. With Djokovic’s withdrawal, it also marked the first semifinal in 20 years without one of the Big Three (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic).
If fans were expecting an epic, what they got in the first set was more a tutorial from Sinner, who looked indomitable, breaking Alcaraz’s serve again and again to quickly take the set 6-1. Somehow, Alcaraz managed to flip the script in the second, taking it seemingly just as easily, 6-3.
That’s when things got interesting: In the third set, Sinner appeared to wilt a bit, cramping in his hand and arm. He was treated during a changeover by the physio, but then…improbably rolled off a string of games to take the third set 6-3, capitalizing on a weak return of serve and too many unforced errors from Alcaraz. If this match was to be a classic, it would be a slow-burning one. “It was…a little weird, the third set,” Alcaraz said later. “In this moment you have to keep going; you have to stay there fighting.”
And fight he did: The fourth set saw these two masterful players operating at something like the level we expect from them—Alcaraz with his lethal speed and unholy groundstrokes, Sinner with his own killer serves and octopus-like reach and agility—though it was Alcaraz who took the set, 6-4, before getting an early 3-0 lead in the deciding fifth set. And while Sinner capitalized on a few tactical mistakes from Alcaraz to prevent that final set from being a rout, in the end Alcaraz pulled a rabbit out of his hat, essentially stealing this match (and making the theft look rather easy) 6-3 in the fifth.
If it wasn’t a true classic, it was a textbook exercise in never giving up, playing to your strengths, and taking advantage of one’s opponent’s mistakes. With his win today, Alcaraz becomes the youngest player to have reached Grand Slam finals on all court surfaces. (Nadal and Agassi were 22 when they did the same, Federer and Djokovic both 24.)
Alcaraz will play the winner of today’s second men’s semifinal, which pits Alexander Zverev against Caspar Ruud, in Sunday’s final. Stay tuned.