Carlos Alcaraz rescued three match points as he defeated his Italian counterapart Jannik Sinner 4-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(3) 7-6(10-2) to win consecutive French Open titles on Sunday in the longest Roland Garros final of the Open Era. Alcaraz has bagged five Grand Slams now, with Sinner having three of them to his name.Alcaraz and Sinner have won seven out of the previous eight Grand Slams as they march on as the new torchbearers of the sport after the retirement of seasoned hands such as Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal in the last few years.
Alcaraz demonstrated his fierce tenacity to clinch victory in a marathon summit clash that lasted for five hours and 29 minutes, resulting in the longest ever final at Roland Garros.
Sinner held serve in five-deuce opening game that ran on for 12 minutes, but he ended up hammering a forehand wide before striking back from 2-3 and compelling an unforced error off Alcaraz.Consistent pressure from the baseline paved the way for Sinner to march towards a break up early in the second set and he squeezed further hold on Alcaraz, who was trailing 1-4 on a hot and sunny day in Paris.The Spaniard managed to strike back fighting hard and earned massive applause when he drew level following 10 games, leading to a tiebreak where Sinner surged ahead, thanks to his robust forehead that doubled his lead after the rounding off of two hours.Alcaraz had never come back from two sets down and he fought hard to avoid his maiden defeat in a Grand Slam final. He pulled a set back before saving three match points whilst trailing 3-5 in the fourth set, before levelling the game through a tiebreak.Eventually, Alcaraz emerged triumphant in the super tiebreak to win the longest men’s final in Paris since the game was professionalised in 1968. Sinner failed to make it three in a row after coming into this major on the back of straight wins at the hard courts in the US and Australian Opens.First Published: Jun 9, 2025 12:39 AM IST
