Two of the best performers of the clay season so far will face off in the semi-finals of the French Open tomorrow night

05/06/2025 10:22:00 PANDATV

Tomorrow night, the 2025 French Open semifinals will kick off. Alcaraz vs. Musetti, two of the best performers of this year's clay season so far, will take the biggest stage on clay, the Roland Garros Philippe Chartier Centre Court in Paris, France, to compete with each other.

Born in May 2003 and ranked No. 2 in the world, Spanish all-around Alcaraz has a 20-1 record on clay this year, winning the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters, the ATP 500 Barcelona runner-up, and reaching the semifinals of the French Open, becoming the best performer so far in this year's clay season.

Born in March 2002, the world's eighth-ranked and sixth-year-old Italian single-lens reflex prodigy Musetti has a 19-3 record on clay this year, winning the second place at the Monte Carlo Masters, reaching the semifinals of the Madrid, Rome Masters and French Open, becoming the second player in this year's clay season after Alcaraz. While Argentina's Frosé Cerundolo has won 19 clay matches, he has played more clay matches (including the South American clay season) and has suffered six defeats. It is precisely because of Musetti's good performance and record on clay that on May 5, Musetti reached a new high in the world rankings, ranking in the top 10 of the world for the first time in his career.

These two of the best performers of this year's clay season so far will meet in the semi-finals of the 2025 French Open, and will face off for the third and final time this year.

Alcaraz and Musetti met for the first time this year on clay, in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters on 13 April. Musetti took the lead and took the first set with a score of 6-3 to seize the commanding heights. Unexpectedly, in the second set, Musetti suddenly suffered a right thigh injury and was unsustainable. Musetti did not listen to his coach's advice to withdraw from the tournament, but still insisted on playing the match, and finally lost two sets in a row with a score of 1:6 0:6, and unfortunately lost the first Masters final of his career. However, Musetti's respect for the sportsmanship of the crowd and his tenacious tenacity and perseverance, which are completely different from the lack of emotional management and the slightly fragile willpower of the previous arena, are moving.

The two met for the second time this year on clay, in the semi-finals of the Rome Masters on 16 May. After a sudden tear in his right adductor muscle at the ATP 500 Barcelona final on 20 April, Alcaraz returned from injury at the Rome Masters after almost three weeks of recuperation. Alcaraz's physical condition has been verified after training in the game, and his condition and confidence have also improved. In the quarterfinals, Alcaraz defeated Draper, a handsome British guy who had just eliminated himself as the defending champion in the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters, in two sets; In the semi-finals, Alcaraz also defeated Musetti, who has performed well on clay this year, in two sets, showing his excellent form and strong self-confidence.

Tomorrow night, in the semifinals of the 2025 French Open, the two will meet for the third and last time this year's clay season.

Musetti's one-on-one counter-attacking ball could be a key factor in the game, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for Musetti. Alcaraz is bound to emulate the tactics of his predecessor idol and Spanish god of war Nadal's fierce battle against Swiss king Federer, keep an eye on Musetti's backhand, chase hard, and score the victory. To this end, Musetti must seize the opportunity to attack forward when Alcaraz's return is still bouncing up, and at the same time give full play to the advantages of a variety of routes, variable landing points and large angles of the single counter-attacking ball, and play a strong aggression, so as to be able to fight with Alcaraz and find a chance to win.

Alcaraz's three-dimensional tactics of attacking with forehand and backhand, bursting balls, and volleying at the net, coupled with the psychological advantage of five wins and one loss in six meetings so far in his career, will surely cause great pressure and damage to Musetti. Alcaraz's weak link may be serving. Therefore, Alcaraz should abandon the excessive pursuit of service speed, and instead pursue more pursuit of the speed and angle of the serve, and pursue a higher success rate of the first serve, especially the success rate of the second serve, so as to reduce the error of the serve. Alcaraz also had to try to avoid having Musetti attack suddenly when he received the serve, putting himself in an awkward position of being beaten passively.