It took five and a half hours, but on Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz won the French Open for the second straight year. Alcaraz bested Jannik Sinner in a grueling, thrilling match after a stunning comeback, 4-6, 6(4)-7(7), 6-4, 7(7)-6(4), 7(10)-6(2).
Alcaraz earned the win after dropping the first two sets, defeating Sinner after five sets and three tiebreaks. The wild matchup pitted the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds against one another in what is sure to become an instant classic.
Sinner, who had an early lead, dropped three championship points in the fourth set before Alcaraz was able force a deciding set; however, in the fifth set, it was Sinner who completed the unlikely comeback to force the game into a third tiebreak.
As more than five-hour game wore on — the longest in Roland-Garros history and the third-longest men’s finals match in the Open Era — Sinner grew visibly fatigued, while Alcaraz stayed in control of the matchup. But both seemed to get a second wind after the marathon match, with it all leading up to the thrilling ending.
Alcaraz, who is notorious for his ability to win marathon matches, is now 13-1 in five-set games. Sinner, meanwhile, moves to 0-7 on games that past the four-hour mark.
The two traded games throughout the first set, before Sinner broke through to take the 6-4 win. In the second set, the young Italian got off to a strong start, going up 4-1. But Alcaraz had a different idea, going on a roll to eventually tie Sinner at 5-5. Sinner then took the next game, but Alcaraz held on for an uncontested service game to force a tiebreak, which Sinner eventually won with some difficulty.
The third set was all Alcaraz to start. Alcaraz, who had briefly lost the goodwill of the crowd, pulled them right back in with a number of excellent points. Though Sinner launched a late comeback of his own to keep the set alive, Alcaraz was able to hold on for a 6-4 win, in a sequence that mirrored the first set.
In the fourth set, things stayed as tight as ever. Alcaraz seemed to have a slight advantage early on, before Sinner came back for a late surge. However, with Sinner up 5-3, and the championship just in reach, Alcaraz fought back, winning the next three games to go up 6-5 and dash Sinner’s hopes. Sinner dropped three consecutive match points before Alcaraz was able to push things into a deciding set.
With the game entering its fourth hour, Sinner was able to force a deciding tiebreak, but Alcaraz pushed through to win the tiebreaker 7-3 and force a fifth set.
Sinner looked fatigued at the start of the deciding set, as Alcaraz built up a small lead. But Sinner managed to get a second wind, pushing through to tie Alcaraz at 5-5.
After Sinner took a 6-5 lead, Alcaraz tied things up again to force yet another tiebreak. And in the end, he was victorious, taking the win with an easy 10-2 tiebreaker victory.
