Carlos Alcaraz thrashed Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the gold medal match at the Olympics. The Spaniard needed just 75 minutes to win their semi-final 6-1 6-1. It means he still hasn’t dropped a set in the singles.
He has now guaranteed himself at least a silver medal. But if he can emerge victorious in Sunday’s final, he will become the youngest man in Olympic tennis history to take home the gold.
The 21-year-old is looking to follow in the footsteps of his idol and doubles partner Rafael Nadal by winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics all in the same summer.
Nadal achieved the feat in 2008 when the Olympic tennis event was staged on hard courts in Beijing. At the time, Alcaraz was just five years old. He now has a chance to emulate his countryman.
Auger-Aliassime fended off the world No. 3 in the opening game but Alcaraz raced through, earning a moral bagel as he won six in a row to take the first set 6-1. The four-time Grand Slam champion ran down every ball and completely outplayed the Canadian, hitting six winners to just two from his opponent.
Chants of “Espana” rang out through Court Philippe-Chatrier as Alcaraz held to start the second set, extending his streak to seven games in a row. Auger-Aliassime finally ended the No. 2 seed’s run, getting himself on the board in the set at 1-1.
But the world No. 19 continued to struggle. He attempted to copy Alcaraz’s playbook with a drop shot but it sailed out and he blew a game point before hitting a double fault to give away another break.
Serving at 1-4, Auger-Aliassime hit two unforced errors to give the Spaniard two more break points. He saved both but the mistakes kept coming and Alcaraz had another chance. This time he took it, reeling the Canadian in with a drop shot before hitting a winner into the empty court.
Alcaraz was clearly nervous serving it out. He had three match points but his first serve temporarily abandoned him. He blew the first with a double fault but quickly got the job done as Auger-Aliassime fired down one last unforced error – his 23rd of the day.
Alcaraz is now guaranteed to take home a medal on his debut at the Olympics. He will face either Novak Djokovic or Lorenzo Musetti on Sunday with the gold at stake. If he meets Djokovic, it will be a rematch of the Wimbledon final which Alcaraz won just three weeks ago.
The world No. 3 had also entered the men’s doubles draw with Rafael Nadal but they lost to experienced pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the USA in the quarter-final. After their exit, the Beijing 2008 champion shared his hopes of seeing Alcaraz take home the gold.
“And now the most important thing; come on Carlos go for the medal, you are closer after today’s victory, you can get it. We are all with you!” he wrote on Instagram. If Alcaraz can pull it off, he will be the youngest male champion at the Games aged 21 years and 91 days. 100 years ago, Vincent Richards of the USA won men’s singles gold at Paris 1924, at the age of 21 and 123 days.
