Roma – Carlo Alcaraz made his first Italian Open final on Friday by defeating Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4).
This is the third inning of three clay games this season, Alcaraz won the Monte Carlo Masters and finished second in the Barcelona Open before quitting the Madrid Open due to injury.
Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion, is preparing to defend his title at the French Open which begins on May 25.
In Sunday’s final, Alcaraz will face top-ranked Jannik Sinner or 12th-place Tommy Paul, who plays in the night game at Foro Italico.
Saturday’s women’s finals feature Coco Gauff against Jasmine Paolini.
Paolini and partner Sara Errani also advanced to the women’s doubles final when they defeated last year’s Olympic final 6-4, 6-4, and also advanced to the women’s doubles final.
Alcaraz, third-ranked, withdrew from the Madrid Championship’s upper right leg release and also suffered a left leg injury. In Rome, he wore a long black support covering the upper part of his right leg and reached under his knees.
Musetti won Alcaraz’s first match in the Monte Carlo final, but Alcaraz broke the Italian serving in the first match, silenced the Pro-Musetti crowd at Campo Centrale. Instead of helping himself with a series of unforced errors, Musetti simply started pushing Alcaraz to the end of the scene.
Musetti was docked late in the second set after receiving a warning for racket violations late in the second set.
Alcaraz called Italian for the second time. During his Rome debut last year, he lost to Fabian Marozsan, then No. 135, the then No. 135 Hungarian qualifier, as he handled a troublesome right forearm issue.
