Alcaraz on the cusp of historical past after securing spot in gold medal match (0:59)
Carlos Alcaraz makes extra historical past on the Paris Video games with a semifinal victory in straight units over Félix Auger-Aliassime. (0:59)
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Aug 2, 2024, 09:20 AM ET
PARIS — Carlos Alcaraz moved one win away from changing into the youngest man to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal by beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 within the Paris Video games semifinals Friday.
Alcaraz, 21, is from Spain and already owns 4 Grand Slam titles — together with in June at Roland Garros, the clay-court facility getting used for tennis on the 2024 Video games — and is a few month youthful than Vincent Richards of the U.S. was when he claimed the gold in Paris in 1924.
With dozens of spectators waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags at Court docket Philippe Chatrier or yelling “Vamos, Carlos!” on a cloudy afternoon — and a soundtrack supplied throughout breaks within the motion by a brass band within the stands — Alcaraz was dominant and by no means confronted a break level.
He gained the purpose on 10 of 11 journeys to the online. He made simply 13 unforced errors, 10 fewer than Auger-Aliassime, who additionally misplaced to Alcaraz at this 12 months’s French Open.
“I simply could not discover a approach to be snug in any sample, any place. Whether or not it was attempting to dominate the forehand cross-court or change of course, the forehand inside-out, the backhand aspect,” Auger-Aliassime stated. “Each side. The motion. The protection. I used to be dominated.”
Auger-Aliassime is a 23-year-old Canadian whose finest displaying at a significant match was a semifinal look on the 2021 US Open. Auger-Aliassime made it to that spherical again then when Alcaraz, simply 18 on the time, stopped enjoying within the second set of their quarterfinal due to an injured leg muscle.
“He is improved lots, each time we have performed,” stated Auger-Aliassime, who beat Alcaraz in every of their first three head-to-head contests however now has misplaced the 4 since, all in straight units. “I haven’t got the options proper now.”
The Alcaraz on show throughout his Olympics debut is a way more completed product, somebody who has gained 12 consecutive matches at Roland Garros and picked up a second consecutive title at Wimbledon final month, too.
Alcaraz defeated 24-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic in each of these finals on the All England Membership, and there could possibly be a rematch for the lads’s gold on Sunday. That is as a result of Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia, was scheduled to face Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in Friday’s second Olympic semifinal.
It was unclear how match Djokovic could be for that match, as a result of he felt what he described as “sharp ache” in his surgically repaired proper knee whereas getting previous Stefanos Tsitsipas within the quarterfinals Thursday night time. Musetti eradicated Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Alexander Zverev.
The ladies’s singles ultimate is Saturday, with Zheng Qinwen of China enjoying in opposition to Donna Vekic of Croatia.
Iga Swiatek of Poland defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia Friday to win the bronze medal..
Within the males’s doubles semifinals Friday, Matt Ebden and John Peers of Australia defeated Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the USA 7-5, 6-2. They may go up in opposition to one other American duo, fourth-seeded Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, for the gold.
In ladies’s doubles, Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy superior to the gold medal match with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in opposition to Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova of Czechia.
