Alcaraz on Roland-Garros matchup with Tsitsipas: “I think I have the key against him”

Carlos Alcaraz’s reward for beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in the Roland-Garros third round on Sunday is a quarter-final showdown against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

And, yes, based on their past head-to-head history it really is a “reward.”

Alcaraz has completely dominated the matchup, winning all five of their previous encounters. The Spaniard has defeated Tsitsipas three times on clay and twice on hard courts. He prevailed once in 2021, twice in 2022 and twice in 2023.

ALCARAZ V TSITSIPAS HEad-TO-HEAD

• 2021 US Open R32 – Alcaraz 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-6 (5)
• 2022 Miami R16 – Alcaraz 7-5, 6-3
• 2022 Barcelona QF – Alcaraz 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
• 2023 Barcelona final – Alcaraz 6-3, 6-4
• 2023 Roland-Garros QF – Alcaraz 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (5)

Stefanos is playing great, but I know tactically what I have to do in the match.

Carlos Alcaraz

“I’m really looking forward [to] playing this match,” Alcaraz said during an on-court interview following his win over Auger-Aliassime. “I love this challenge; I love these kinds of matches. I’ve seen a lot of matches lately from Stefanos. I know that he’s playing great tennis; he has a lot of confidence right now.

“But I think I have the key against him. I’ll try to [make] the shots that [put] him in trouble. I’ll try to show my best.”

The world No 3 was asked at his press conference about his “key” comment.

“The matches that we’ve played, I won all of them,” he noted. “So that’s what I wanted to mean when I said that they have the key against him because I think it’s five or six. It doesn’t mean I have to play at my 50 percent. I know that Stefanos is playing great, but I know tactically what I have to do in the match — which I’m not going to say, obviously. But I know what I have to do in the match.”

Tsitsipas, of course, hopes things are different this time around. The Greek talked about the matchup after he overcame Matteo Arnaldi during third-round action on Sunday afternoon.

“Well, he has said in the past that he likes playing against me,” Tsitsipas commented. “I hope he gets to like it a little bit less this time. I hope I can get him to that stage of starting to feel maybe that it’s not so comfortable playing against me. That’s my goal heading into the match.”

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