Carlos Alcaraz won a first French Open title after beating Alexander Zverev 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in 4 hours and 20 minutes of hard fought action.
The match started with breaks being exchanged before the Spaniard played a better second half of the opening set and duly took the lead after 6-3. In the second set, the roles were reversed and it was Zverev who began to dictate the events on the court after 2-2, taking four unanswered for the final 6-2. In the third set, Alcaraz led 5-2 games, but suffered an unexpected slump and his German opponent took the next five in a row to take a 2-1 lead. However, Alcaraz quickly regained the tie, despite calling a medical timeout after the third game of the fourth set to massage his left thigh. This in no way affected the performance of the Spanish talent and he leveled the score, giving only one game to his opponent. In the decisive fifth set, Alcaraz broke for 2-1, and then saved four break points, which turned out to be the key to the final outcome. It is curious that in the fourth game in question, Zverev had serious claims for an out on the opponent's serve, but the chair judge intervened and ruled the ball good. From then on, there was only one tennis player on the court and it was Alcaraz, who broke the German's resistance for the final victory.
Alcaraz made twice as many double faults as aces - 6 to 3, turning away 17 of 23 break opportunities in front of Zverev. The German finished with fewer winners - 38 to 52, as well as fewer unforced errors - 41 to 56.
For the Spaniard, this is the third Grand Slam title from as many finals, at a third different tournament after the US Open (2022) and Wimbledon (2023), where Alcaraz was again victorious in five sets. He became the youngest tennis player to win three Grand Slam titles on the three different surfaces - on May 5, he turned 21 years old. On the way to the trophy in Paris, he also stopped the new world number 1 Jannik Siner, also in five sets, in the semi-final stage.
For his part, Zverev lost his second Grand Slam final after the one at the 2020 US Open, when he was two sets ahead against Dominic Thiem, but allowed a complete reversal. | BGNES
