Carlos Alcaraz Comes Back In 5-Set To Beat Jannik Sinner In French Open Classic

Carlos Alcaraz said he always believed that he would be able to come back as he rallied from two sets down and saved three match points to beat the No. 1 tennis player in the world, Jannik Sinner, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2) to win his second straight French Open title Sunday.

Alcaraz trailed 5-3, 0-40 on serve in the fourth set but recovered to win his fifth Grand Slam title after five hours, 29 minutes, the longest French Open men’s final in the Open era and the second-longest men’s Grand Slam final ever.

“The match is not finished until he wins the last point,” Alcaraz said in his post-match news conference. “A lot of times people came back from match point down in the final of a Grand Slam or even in other matches. I just wanted to be one of those players who saved match point in the Grand Slam final and ended up winning. … I just believed all the time. I never doubted myself, even in those match points down. I thought, just one point at a time. Just one point, and then after one point, try to save that game and keep believing. That’s what I thought.”

It’s the first time in nine attempts that Alcaraz has come from two sets down to win a match. He is also the eighth man in the Open era to successfully defend the Roland Garros title and is the first man to save match points and win a Grand Slam final since Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2019.

“I’m not going to say that I was believing that he was able to recover from that 5-3, love-40,” Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, said. “But one more time with Carlos, everything is possible, and he did it again. Amazing achieve[ment].”

Alcaraz is now 5-0 in Slam finals and extended his head-to-head advantage over Sinner to 8-4.

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Article by James Van Wickler