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Carlos Alcaraz won the men’s singles final at the Paris 2024 Olympics by beating Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 on Friday. It was Alcaraz’s fourth straight victory over his Canadian opponent.
Alcaraz, the world’s third-ranked player, has yet to drop a set at Roland Garros. He will face Novak Djokovic on Sunday, with a gold medal on the line.
If he wins, Alcaraz, 21, would become the youngest player to win an Olympic gold medal in tennis singles. The Spaniard is about a month younger than American Vincent Richards, who won gold at the 1924 Paris Games.
It now makes it 12 straight wins for Alcaraz, who became the youngest man to reach the Olympic singles semi-finals since Djokovic in 2008 after beating American Tommy Paul on Thursday.
Alcaraz was dominant against Auger-Aliassime, winning 15 of 21 first serves and 9 of 11 second serves. He also converted 5 of 9 break points and won five return games.
Djokovic grateful to have reached Olympic final for the first time
Top seed Novak Djokovic reached his first Olympic final by beating Lorenzo Musetti in three sets 6-4, 6-2. He will face world number two Alcaraz for the gold medal on Sunday.
Djokovic and Alcaraz have met six times, each winning three times. Most recently, Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in the Wimbledon final this year, winning in three sets to claim his second consecutive title at the All England Tennis Club.
The gold medal final will be between the youngest and the oldest. At 21, Alcaraz is the youngest to compete for Olympic gold in men’s singles. Djokovic is the oldest to reach the men’s final at 37.
Winner of three titles at Roland Garros, where the Parisian tennis tournament is held, Djokovic is very aware of his history in the Olympic game.
“You know, I’ve been waiting for this for almost 20 years,” Djokovic told NBC’s Britney Eurton in his post-match interview. “I’ve been to four Olympics; this is my fifth and I’ve never gotten past the semifinals. So I lost three out of four semifinals in my first four Olympics and I was able to overcome that big hurdle.”
“I have to be honest and say that I was thinking about all the semi-finals that I lost,” he added, stressing that reaching the final for the first time in his career is very significant for him.
No All-American final in men’s doubles
The team of Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz lost in three sets, 7-5, 6-2, in the men’s doubles semifinal on Friday to Australia’s Matthew Ebden and John Peers.
Had the No. 3 seed Paul and Fritz qualified, they would have faced fellow Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram (six-time Grand Slam doubles champions) on Saturday for the gold medal. Instead, they will face Czechs Tomáš Macháč and Adam Pavlásek for bronze later Friday.
Paul and Fritz reached the semi-finals on Friday after beating Britain’s Andy Murray and Daniel Evans in the quarter-finals, ending Murray’s tennis career.
Świątek wins bronze
Poland’s Iga Świątek won the bronze medal in the women’s singles tournament after beating Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-1 on Friday.
Świątek, the world number one who was favourite for gold, needed 59 minutes to win the match, which was her first victory after her 25-match unbeaten run at Roland Garros ended in the semi-finals with a loss to China’s Qinwen Zheng.
