French Open: Sinner beats Djokovic to set up final against defending champion Alcaraz

PARIS (AP) — After beating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the French Open semifinals on Friday, top-ranked Jannik Sinner must find a way past defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the final.

Sinner has not dropped a set en route to his first final at Roland-Garros, but Alcaraz has won their last four meetings and leads him 7-4 overall. Sinner is aiming for his fourth major title and Alcaraz his fifth.

“We try to push ourself in the best possible way,” Sinner said. “And the stage, it doesn’t get any bigger now.”

Djokovic is the men's record 24-time Grand Slam champion but could not counter Sinner's relentless accuracy and pounding forehands on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point in the right way with the good intensity,” Sinner said. “You have to be ready to counterattack. That’s why it’s very important to be focused, no? Because if you sleep, then the match is gone.”

Sinner became the second Italian man to reach the final at Roland-Garros in the Open era, which began in 1968, after Adriano Panatta, the 1976 champion.

Earlier, Alcaraz led 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 2-0 against Lorenzo Musetti when the eighth-seeded Italian retired with a leg injury.

Djokovic fought back in the third set but wilted in the tiebreaker, somehow missing an easy smash at the net to trail 3-0 and then lost on the second match point he faced when his forehand hit the net.

“These are rare and special moments,” Sinner said. “I'm very happy.”

Djokovic was emotional and said it might have been his last ever match at Roland-Garros. He kissed his hand after the defeat, then put it on the clay, as if saying farewell to the stadium.

Sinner's tennis legacy here, and elsewhere, is still growing.

He extended his winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments to 20 matches, after winning the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.

Djokovic was bidding for a record-extending 38th Grand Slam final and eighth at the French Open, a tournament he was won three times. But he spent much of the semifinal camped behind the baseline, sliding at full stretch and grunting loudly while Sinner sent him scurrying left and right like a windscreen wiper.

“I felt constantly under pressure, and he didn't allow me to have time to swing through the ball. He was just constantly on the line, trying to make me defend,” Djokovic said. “So that’s why he's the No. 1 in the world. I wish him best for the finals. I think it’s going to be an amazing matchup with him and Carlos, the two best players at the moment.”

Sinner praised Djokovic after beating him for a fourth straight time.

“It was such a special occasion playing against Novak in the semifinals of a Grand Slam,” Sinner said. “I had to step up. I had to play the best tennis I could.”

When they met at the net, Djokovic gave Sinner a warm embrace and bumped his chest several times.

Djokovic seemed unsure how to trouble the Italian.

He tilted his head back in frustration when, in the second game of the second set, his attempted drop shot landed short. Then, his lob was not quite high enough and Sinner smashed it easily. Finally, when a 26-stroke rally went his way — featuring sliced drop shots and even improbable retrieves — Djokovic got a huge ovation from the crowd, who bellowed out “Novak! Novak!” as he milked their applause. That made it deuce. But Sinner took the game.

Sinner was becoming the Roland-Garros showman Djokovic so often was on the main court, where he won three of his major titles.

One improvised flick-of-the-wrist drop shot from back of the court was majestic, too good even for Djokovic to get back.

Djokovic had a brief massage on his upper right thigh during the changeover at 6-5 down. Serving for the second set for a second time, Sinner clinched it when Djokovic could not return his strong serve.

Djokovic took a medical time out immediately and received massage treatment on the same leg for a few minutes.

He looked sharper in the third set, but Sinner held his nerve.

Earlier, Musetti was struggling with his left leg.

He was 5-0 down after 16 minutes of the third set when he called for a trainer. Alcaraz broke Musetti in the next game to clinch the set in 21 minutes, winning 24 of 29 points.

“It’s not great to win a match like this. Lorenzo is a great player,” Alcaraz said. “I wish him all the best.”

Musetti called for the trainer again after the third set and, after Alcaraz broke his serve to lead 2-0, Musetti walked slowly up to the net and received a hug from Alcaraz.

“I felt at the beginning of the third when I was serving, I start losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind,” Musetti said. “Tomorrow I will do exams.”

Frustration got to Alcaraz during the second set, and at one point he aimed a side-footed kick at his changeover seat.

“The first two sets were really tough,” Alcaraz said. “When I won the second set I was relieved.”

Musetti was playing in only his second major semifinal after reaching the same stage at Wimbledon last year. Alcaraz said he feels in top shape physically for the final.

“Really good. It’s been three intense weeks but I’m feeling great,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence right now.”

Alcaraz improved to 21-1 on clay this year, winning titles on the dirt in Rome — beating Sinner in the final after the Italian returned from his doping ban — and Monte Carlo.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Serbia's Novak Djokovic gestures as he leaves the semifinal match of the French Tennis Open against Italy's Jannik Sinner at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Winner Italy's Jannik Sinner, back to the camera, and Serbia's Novak Djokovic hug after their semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Italy's Jannik Sinner celebrates as he won the semifinal match of the French Tennis Open against Serbia's Novak Djokovic at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts as he plays against Italy's Jannik Sinner during their semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Italy's Jannik Sinner plays a shot against Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Italy's Lorenzo Musetti serves against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz during their semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Italy's Lorenzo Musetti receives medical assistance during a break at the semifinal match of the French Tennis Open against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Winner Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, right, and Italy's Lorenzo Musetti greet each other after the semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz reacts as he plays against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz reacts as he plays against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protests sweeping across Iran neared the two-week mark Saturday, with the country’s government acknowledging the ongoing demonstrations despite an intensifying crackdown and as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 65 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings.

“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote Saturday on the social platform X. The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Saturday marks the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the “Epic of Khorramshahr” by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations. The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honors Iran's 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well.

“Field reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night,” a state TV anchor reported. “After a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people’s private property last night, there was no news of any gathering or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night.”

That was directly contradicted by an online video verified by The Associated Press that showed demonstrations in northern Tehran's Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.

“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.

The Young Journalists' Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad.

State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.

Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar's state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran's old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi's support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows a fire as people protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

This frame grab from a video released Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, by Iranian state television shows a man holding a device to document burning vehicles during a night of mass protests in Zanjan, Iran. (Iranian state TV via AP)