Carlos Alcaraz steamrollered into the French Open semi-finals for the loss of just five games, as he comprehensively swept Tommy Paul aside in straight sets.
The reigning champion took just 94 minutes to wrap up a dominant 6-0 6-1 6-4 rout and reach the last four at Roland-Garros for a third successive year, where he will play Lorenzo Musetti.
Alcaraz set the tone early on by breaking at the first opportunity in a lengthy second game. He did so again in the fourth and sixth to take the opening set after 32 minutes.
Paul stopped the rot with a love hold in game two of the second set. However, it proved a false dawn for the American, with Alcaraz winning 20 of the next 25 points to double his lead just 24 minutes later.
World number 12 Paul dug deep and took the third set to 4-4 in a desperate attempt to keep his hopes alive.
But Alcaraz, who dropped just two points on serve, crucially broke in the ninth game, before a love hold secured his return to the semi-finals.
Data Debrief: Alcaraz follows Nadal and Wilander's lead
It was almost a record-breaking victory for Alcaraz, whose most dominant victory at a major saw him drop just four games against J.J. Wolf in the opening round of last year's French Open.
Nevertheless, the Spaniard did become the first defending champion to reach the following year's semi-finals at Roland-Garros since compatriot Rafael Nadal in 2021.
At 22 years and 20 days old, Alcaraz is the youngest man to reach seven major semi-finals since Nadal in 2008, and the third-youngest in the Open Era to reach three successive semis at the clay-court major - only than only Nadal and Mats Wilander.
The first man to win 20 matches on clay in 2025, Alcaraz is now 11-3 against top-20 opponents this year.
The world number two boasts a 19-2 record against American opponents since the 2022 French Open, while Paul's wait for a first top-10 victory at a major goes on (0-8).
