Two things that stood out in Novak Djokovic's win over Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open semifinal

Third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinal of the French Open on Friday (June 9) to go a step closer to his third French Open and 23rd Grand Slam title.

However, it was the injury Alcaraz suffered in the right leg at the beginning of the third set that effectively sealed the fate of the match. The match still lasted for well over three hours, as the 36-year-old Serb reached the French Open final for the seventh time.

On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match.

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#1 Djokovic and Alcaraz traded blows, with both defending really well for the first two sets

2023 French Open - Day Thirteen

Quite expectedly, Alcaraz was the more aggressive player from the baseline, hitting a lot of winners with his powerful forehand. Djokovic trailed him in terms of the number of winners hit but made sure that he did not provide the Spaniard with too many short balls and also kept defending really well.

However, that does not mean that they did have their roles reversed at times. The second set saw the Serb hit a few ferocious groundstrokes from the baseline, with the Spaniard defending in a superb manner.

Djokovic always looked dangerous when he played his crosscourt shots with sharp angles, but the Spanish youngster defended the width of the baseline really well. The 20-year-old Spaniard also troubled the Serb by playing the drop shots really well. However, the Serb kept saving break points by serving really well during key moments.

He won more than 75% of the points on his first serve in the first set but fared poorly off his second. Still, he did enough to win the first set, but only for the Spaniard to bounce back by breaking Djokovic twice in the second.

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#2 Alcaraz's injury in the third set ended the match effectively

2023 French Open - Day Thirteen

Alcaraz suffered an injury in his right calf in the third game of the third set that went on to spoil the show for the spectators. The Spaniard effectively played on one leg for the remainder of the match as his movement was seriously affected.

Djokovic made full use of it to race through the third and fourth sets, thereby ending the Spaniard's resistance.

It was a pity for the spectators, who were thus robbed of an opportunity to enjoy an enthralling match. With the motivation of creating history in front of him, the Serb will take some stopping on Sunday (June 11).