The Olympic final will be a repeat of the Wimbledon final: The two top tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will fight in Paris to succeed Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev. Both have secured silver and will play for the gold medal in Paris on Sunday.
The 37-year-old Djokovic can add the one major triumph he is still missing to his impressive trophy collection. The Serbian, who finished third at the 2008 Olympics, won his semi-final against Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-2.
Third major title in a row for Alcaraz?
However, the Spanish Wimbledon and French Open champion Alcaraz will be difficult to beat in the form of his merciless 6:1, 6:1 win over the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. In the Wimbledon final just three weeks ago, Alcaraz had largely outplayed record Grand Slam champion Djokovic. The 21-year-old Spaniard can now crown his dream tennis summer after his two Grand Slam titles in the past few weeks.
Alcaraz dominated Auger-Aliassime at will at lunchtime, but the Canadian found no solution to the class of the player. The match lasted just 75 minutes. In the evening match, Djokovic and Musetti fought an even first set, which he only won after 63 minutes. Musetti, who also faced Djokovic in the Wimbledon semi-finals, forced the Serb to run long distances one day after his quarter-final victory against Hamburg-born Zverev.
Djokovic held his ground – although the world number two had previously expressed concern about his right knee. At the French Open in the same venue, he had injured his meniscus, did not compete in the quarter-finals and had undergone an operation at the beginning of June. There were no restrictions visible, at least from the stands.
Djokovic makes debut
In an unusual way, the experienced player secured the break to win the set with five points in a row. Musetti had the score at 5:4 and 40:0 to make it 5:5. The top seed then failed at the start of the second set. Djokovic received warnings in his first two service games, was broken twice and argued with the referee. After losing his serve, however, Djokovic always equalized promptly and then pulled away inexorably. After 1:50 hours, he reached an Olympic final for the first time.
Alcaraz, also in the Olympic final for the first time, and Djokovic are once again setting age records: at 21 years and 91 days, Alcaraz is the youngest finalist since tennis became an Olympic sport again in 1988. Djokovic is the oldest at 37 years and 74 days. Auger-Aliassime and Musetti will fight for bronze on Saturday.
Source: www.sport.de
