Alcaraz, Djokovic, Musetti and Auger-Aliassime reach the men’s semifinals in Olympic tennis

PARIS (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz says he doesn’t feel unbeatable at Roland Garros, the site of the Paris Olympics tennis competition and the French Open title he won last month. His opponents might disagree.

Alcaraz ran his winning streak at the place to 11 matches and became the youngest man to reach the singles semifinals at a Summer Games since Novak Djokovic in 2008, getting past Tommy Paul of the U.S. 6-3, 7-6 (7) at Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday.

“I had a really great two weeks in Roland Garros — playing great tennis here, feeling great moving, feeling great hitting the ball. So (I came) here having the same feeling,” said Alcaraz, a 21-year-old Spaniard. “But I can lose against everybody. I have to respect every player.”

In the semifinals Friday, Alcaraz will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 winner over three-time major runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway, and the 37-year-old Djokovic will meet Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. Djokovic felt pain in his surgically repaired right knee while beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Thursday night and said he’s concerned about how he’ll be against Musetti.

Musetti eliminated Tokyo Games gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-5, 7-5.

“One of my best matches, so far, of my career,” said the 22-year-old Musetti, who reached his first major semifinal at Wimbledon last month before losing to Djokovic.

The women’s final Saturday will be between Zheng Qinwen of China and Donna Vekic of Croatia. Zheng defeated No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-2, 7-5, while Vekic was a 6-4, 6-0 winner against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia.

Alcaraz already owns four Grand Slam titles and is just a few days older than Djokovic was when he took home a bronze for Serbia 16 years ago in Beijing.

This is only the latest in a series of “youngest since” or “youngest ever” achievements for Alcaraz, whose recent championships at the French Open and Wimbledon raised his Grand Slam count to four. As it is, he was the youngest man with a major championship on hard, grass and clay courts. In 2022, he became the first teenager to reach No. 1 in the ATP rankings, getting there after winning the U.S. Open.

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And so on.

“It’s been a while since Alcaraz lost a match here,” Paul said, “so I would say that he’s probably the favorite, right?”

Alcaraz and Paul, whose best showing at a major was a semifinal run at the 2023 Australian Open, are developing a bit of a rivalry. Alcaraz is now 5-2 head-to-head, which includes defeating Paul a few weeks ago in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

This one, played at Chatrier stadium with Spain’s queen in the crowd, could have become a lot more complicated.

Paul nearly pushed the match to a third set.

“A really intense match,” Alcaraz said.

Paul served for the second at 5-3 and got within two points of taking it a couple of times there, but he couldn’t get closer, including missing a volley off a dipping cross-court passing shot by Alcaraz, then pushing a backhand long. Alcaraz eventually broke with an on-the-run forehand passing winner after Paul smacked a terrific forehand approach shot to a corner.

The crowd went wild. Alcaraz pointed his right index finger to his ear, then raised that fist.

In the tiebreaker, Paul earned a set point at 7-6, and he conjured up a drop half-volley that Alcaraz sprinted to, then slid, and guided a down-the-line backhand that went off the edge of Paul’s racket frame and toward the stands. Again, Alcaraz gestured as the spectators roared.

On Alcaraz’s second match point, Paul yanked a forehand wide, and that was that.

“It’s not a secret that, right now,” Paul said, “Alcaraz is kind of like the golden standard.”

After losing in singles, Paul went back out on court and teamed with Taylor Fritz to reach the doubles semifinals by beating Andy Murray and Dan Evans 6-2, 6-4 in the last match of Murray’s career.

The three-time Grand Slam champion and the only player in Olympics tennis history with two singles golds had announced that he would retire after the Paris Games.

“I knew that moment was coming for the last few months. If it didn’t happen today, that was going to be in a couple days’ time, and I was ready for it. Obviously, I was emotional, because it’s the last time I will play a competitive match,” the 37-year-old Murray said. “But I am genuinely happy, just now. I’m happy with how it’s finished.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games