Carlos Alcaraz achieves Roland Garros destiny with historic French Open triumph over Alexander Zverev

Carlos Alcaraz has made history. It seemed impossible after losing the third set when he had a 2-5 lead and Alexander Zverev came back 7-5, but Carlos Alcaraz has managed to make history and win Roland Garros knocking down the German in five sets 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 1-6, 2-6 in favour of Alcaraz.

First set

The match started as expected, with both players very nervous because of the scenario in which they found themselves. This resulted in an initial break by Alcaraz on Zverev's serve, which the Spaniard could not confirm, losing his serve as well. Equality returned to the scoreboard and both managed to win their two immediate service games, 2-2. At this point, Carlitos was in a very advantageous situation when he got 0-40 with three break points. At the first opportunity, he broke the German's serve again.

Read also

2024 French Open Roland Garros ATP and WTA PRIZE MONEY and Points Breakdown with all-time high of €53,478,000 on offer

This time Alcaraz would confirm the break, and was placed 4-2 after winning his game without complications. The Spaniard was very much in the match, and was 15-40 with two break points to take a 2-5 lead. However, Zverev turned the situation around and took his game to cut the lead to 3-4. Carlitos was going to have to sweat to take the first set.

Despite the initial lag, Carlitos was showing a very solid tennis with his serve, and was 3-5 up after winning his service game after 40-15. In the next game is where the key of the first set was going to come. Alexander Zverev served to close the gap, but Carlos Alcaraz was so into the match that he wanted to close the set as soon as possible. As a result, the Spaniard was 30-40, and in his first break point he closed the first set 3-6 to start the second serving.

Carlos Alcaraz (pictured) just wouldn't be denied by Zverev.

SECOND SET.

The start of the second set was to be a brutal challenge for Alcaraz. The first game was the longest of the match so far by far, with Zverev having up to three break points. However, the Spaniard managed to lift all of them and put a 1-0 that had been very complicated. The German responded with the 1-1, and Alcaraz won his serve again to make it 1-2, this time much faster.

At 2-2 came the first delicate moment for Carlitos. Zverev was 15-40 on the Spanish serve, and although Alcaraz managed to save the first break ball, the second time the German broke his opponent's serve to get 3-2 with the opportunity to confirm the break. He did so, and Zverev got his first big advantage in a set of the match. In addition, with another consecutive break he was going to leave practically sentenced a second set that he was going to close with his serve by 6-2.

Read also

TV GUIDE: How to watch or stream tennis including 2024 French Open at Roland Garros

THIRD SET.

The tension was increasing, which caused the two players to try to minimize the errors to avoid any scares with their respective serves. As a result, in the first games of the third set there was not a single break point, with 2-3 for Alcaraz after winning his serve.

At this moment, Carlitos got a very important 0-40 on Alexander Zverev's serve to have three consecutive break points. At the first one, the Spaniard broke the German's serve, taking a 2-4 lead. Even so, it was going to cost him a lot to certify the break, saving up to three break points of the German. But finally he managed to certify it, and took a very important 2-5 lead.

But Alcaraz was to fail at the key moment. Serving to win the set at 4-5, the Spaniard allowed a break point with Zverev 30-40 up. At the first opportunity, the German broke Carlitos' serve, and gave life to a third set that faced a completely different scenario at that moment. The disconnection of the Spaniard was tremendous, and went from 2-5 up to 6-5 down after another break of Zverev, who served to win the third set 7-5 and put Alcaraz on the ropes.

Alexander Zverev was wondering what would've been after leading.

FOURTH SET.

With the obligation to hit back, Alcaraz started the fourth set breaking Zverev's serve to take a 2-0 lead, and this time he would have the opportunity to redeem himself from the 5-2 of the previous set. The Spaniard confirmed the break with a game in white that put him 3-0 up. Then, taking advantage of the fact that he had started to recover his sensations on court, and with a spectacular drop shot, Carlitos broke Zverev again in his first opportunity at 30-40, and went 0-4 up.

But the alarm bells were ringing again. Zverev got a break with little difficulty with the opportunity to cut it to 2-4. However, after a medical time-out requested by Alcaraz for minor discomfort in the quadriceps, the Spaniard broke the German's serve to go 1-5 up with a chance to win the set with his serve. Although it was going to cost him a lot, with three break points in between, finally Carlitos managed to tie the match by taking the fourth set 1-6.

FIFTH SET.

As it could not be otherwise, the grand final of Roland Garros was going to be decided in the fifth and final set. Zverev started winning the first game with a more solid version of his serve, which had faltered in the previous set. Alcaraz responded consistently to make it 1-1. Two unforced errors and a double fault from Zverev put Alcaraz 0-40 up in the next game, with three break points. The first one was not to be, but in the second Carlitos got the first break of the set.

But this was not going to be easy by any means. Zverev then responded with another 0-40 and three break points. However, adding a fourth break opportunity, Alcaraz lifted all of them to confirm the previous break and go 1-3 up. Zverev made it 2-3 saving a break point. Every game was a tremendous battle, and Carlitos made it 2-4 after the German again had a break point.

We entered the final stretch of the last set, in the game that would be the key to the match. With a very aggressive version of his forehand, Carlos Alcaraz was 0-40 with three break points, and the first would break the serve of Alexander Zverev who was on the ropes. With 2-5 up and serving, Alcaraz served to make history and win Roland Garros. In the end, he would manage to close the set 2-6, and at 21 years old won the third Grand Slam of the career.