Carlos Alcaraz stunned the night time centre court crowd into silence during his ruthless demolition of the fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Earlier in the day, spectators booed Elina Svitolina - yes she who is married to a Frenchman.
She started it
Wonderful theatre at the end of the match between Elina Svitolina from Ukraine and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. Ever since the Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered his country’s forces into Svitolina’s homeland via Belarus in February 2022, she has been agitating to have players from those lands barred from the international circuit. Doesn’t want to got up to the net to shake their hand after matches. And Sabalenka should have been aware, insisted Svitolina who is married to the French tennis star Gael Monfils. “I don't know, to be fair, what she was waiting for, because my statements were clear enough about the handshake.”
Heat of the day
We’ve been having some sizzling days at the tournament. And the heat might have been the reason why Aryna Sabalenka went soggy after beating Elina Svitolina and forgot all about the impending snub. Why did you stand there like a plum was one of the lines of questioning from reporters? “I don't know,” said Sabalenka. “It just was an instinct like I always do after all my matches.” Ooh, this is getting existential. Remember people, never mix sportsmanship and geopolitics..
No new problems
Barring a meltdown in eastern Europe, Sabalenka should receive some kind of acknowledgement from her next opponent Karolina Muchova. The Czech reached her first semi-final at the French Open with a straight sets win over the 2021 runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia.
Streaks
By his lofty standards, the third seed Novak Djokovic was a-labouring against the 11th seed Karen Khachanov. A set down and into a second set tiebreak. But the 36-year-old Serb won seven consecutive points to seal the shootout and level the match. At 4-4 in the fourth, he went on an eight-point run to take Khachanov’s service and himself into the semi-final for the 12th time in Paris.
Nights off
Pity poor Stefanos Tsitsipas. There you are built up as the chunky challenge for the night session game against the top seed Carlos Alcaraz. But all that happens is a nightmare on centre court. The first set went 6-2 in 30 minutes. The second at least took 34 minutes even if the 2021 runner-up lost it 6-1. There wasn't even a foothold for the third. He lost his serve at the beginning and the intrigue was would he hold at 0-3 down to inject some respectability into the demolition because pride had done long time left the building. Two points won at the net formed the basis of the hold. He raised both hands in triumph. Bless. He lost the set in a tiebreaker. Still he did manage to push the match over the two hour mark. Result.
