World number one Jannik Sinner teed up an enticing French Open final with Carlos Alcaraz after beating three-time Roland-Garros winner Novak Djokovic on Friday.
Sinner, who has already claimed one grand slam title at the Australian Open this year, ended Djokovic's hopes of a standalone record 25th major title with a 6-4 7-5 7-6 (7-3) win.
The Italian dominated the early baseline exchanges to pile the pressure on Djokovic, dropping just three points on serve in a fantastic first set for the 23-year-old.
Sinner earned the first break of serve in the match in the fifth game, and although Djokovic later avoided dropping serve again, the top seed was able to take the first set.
Djokovic frequently turned to his drop shot to try and disrupt Sinner바카라™s rhythm on his groundstrokes, and continued to compete in an enthralling second set in the French capital.
The pair exchanged in a sensational 26-shot rally in the second game, with Djokovic emerging victorious from that, though it would be Sinner who would pull further clear.
Despite failing to serve out for the set at the first time of asking at 5-4, Sinner made no mistake the second time around to seal his fifth consecutive set against Djokovic.
Djokovic began showing signs of a potential upper leg issue in the second set and received a medical timeout ahead of the third set, but came out fighting after his treatment.Â
But after the Serbian let slip his three set points at 4-5, Sinner took his opportunity to claim a straight-sets win with a rock-solid tie-break showing.
Data Debrief: The Italian Job
In yet another imperious display on the clay courts of Roland-Garros, Sinner edged closer to a fourth grand slam title with an accomplished performance against Djokovic.Â
Indeed, Sinner has become only the second Italian in the Open Era to reach the men's singles final at the French Open, after Adriano Panatta (1976).
And, aged 23 years and 282 days, he is the youngest player to reach three or more consecutive men's singles finals at grand slams since Pete Sampras (22 years and 158 days), between Wimbledon in 1993 and the Australian Open in 1994.
Sinner is also the first player to reach eight or more consecutive ATP-level event finals since Djokovic in 2015. He is also the youngest to achieve the feat since Ivan Lendl in 1982.
And we can expect fireworks in Sunday's final. Two players born in the 2000s (Alcaraz and Sinner) will face each other in a men's singles final at a grand slam event for the first time.
With Aryna Sabalenka facing Coco Gauff in the women's final on Saturday, it means that the number one and number two have both reached the singles finals at a single major for the first time since the US Open in 2013, and for the first time at Roland-Garros since 1984.Â
