Carlos Alcaraz Beats Lorenzo Musetti in French Open Semifinal Bracket at Roland-Garros

Carlos Alcaraz is one win away from a second straight title at Roland-Garros.

The No. 2 player in the men's singles draw advanced in Friday's semifinal showdown against No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti after the Italian retired midway through the fourth set with an apparent injury. 

While the reigning champion got off to a slow start in the opening set, he left little doubt from there and controlled the remainder of the match even prior to the retirement.

As a result, Alcaraz earned himself a date with either Novak Djokovic or No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner in the final.

To say Musetti was facing an uphill challenge Friday would be quite the understatement.

Alcaraz is already a four-time Grand Slam title holder at 22 years old and entered Roland-Garros as the reigning champion. By comparison, Musetti is still looking for the first major title of his career and never advanced past the round of 16 at this event prior to this year.

He lost to Alcaraz in the round of 16 in 2023, which was part of the latter's 5-1 advantage in their previous six meetings. Alcaraz even previously defeated Musetti twice this year in the final in Monte Carlo and the semifinal in Rome.

But the underdog looked up to the challenge out of the gates.

Musetti stole the first set with a late break after the two players remained on serve through the first nine games. Alcaraz seemed to be pressing at times as well, as he landed just 41 percent of his first serves in while committing 16 unforced errors in that opening set.

Even when it seemed like the champion settled in during the second set with multiple breaks, the service issues continued to be a problem. Musetti broke right back after each of Alcaraz's breaks to force a tiebreak, although he missed an opportunity to seize full control of the match.

The all-time greats only need the slightest opening to come charging through and swing the momentum, and Alcaraz did just that with a relatively straightforward tiebreak win.

That led to pure dominance, as the 22-year-old blanked Musetti in a lightning-quick third set. He was much better with the serve than he was early in the match, which made victory seem like an inevitability.

Inevitability arrived quicker than expected, as Musetti had to retire early in the fourth set after speaking with a trainer.

That means an intriguing final no matter what happens in the next semifinal, as it will pit the reigning champion against either a 24-time Grand Slam champion in Djokovic or the top-ranked player in Sinner.