After a flawless fortnight in Paris, Sinner's eye-catching run at French Open ends in heartbreak

PARIS (AP) — After a flawless fortnight in Paris, Jannik Sinner was on the brink of capturing his first French Open title on Sunday after a dominant run on the clay courts of Roland-Garros.

Facing defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, the top-ranked Italian was firmly in control.

Sinner’s deep groundstrokes, excellent service, heavy top spin, and subtle variations had worn down Alcaraz, who found himself 5-3 down and trailing 0-40 in the fourth set, and facing three match points.

At that moment, it felt like the best of all possible worlds for the 23-year-old Sinner.

But then the momentum swung. Alcaraz fought back, saved the first match point when Sinner sent a forehand long. On the second, Sinner missed a return. The third ended with Alcaraz winning a short baseline exchange.

Sinner had just let his chance slip away.

From there, Alcaraz produced one of the greatest comeback in Roland-Garros history to win the longest final ever played on the Parisian dirt — 5 hours and 29 minutes — 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2).

“It’s an amazing trophy, so I won’t sleep tonight very well, but it’s okay,” Sinner said during the trophy ceremony.

There is hardly anything between the two best players in tennis at the moment, who have now combined to win the last six Grand Slam titles and appear poised to build one of the sport's most compelling rivalries in the years ahead.

Sunday's duel delivered a match of rare intensity, filled with punishing baseline rallies, exquisite drop shots, and brilliant passing shots — thrilling a packed Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Reflecting on the match in his post-final press conference, Sinner tried to draw positives from a devastating loss.

“Obviously, this one hurts,” he said. “There’s not so much to say right now. But again, I’m happy with how we’re trying to improve every day and put myself in these kinds of positions. It was a very high-level match, that’s for sure. I’m happy to be part of it. But yeah, the final result hurts.”

It was a particularly tough ending for Sinner, who had not dropped a set on his way to the final, including a dominant semifinal win over three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic.

Before facing Alcaraz, Sinner had never lost a Grand Slam final, winning his first three. A victory would have made him just the fifth man in the Open Era to win three consecutive major titles.

“I’m pretty sure you are going to be a champion, not once but many, many times,” Alcaraz told him during the trophy ceremony. “It is a privilege to share the court with you in every tournament, making history with you.”

Sinner, who will remain world No. 1, said he’ll lean on his family and loved ones to recover from the loss.

“Now it’s my time to take something from the close people I have,” he said. “As I’ve always said, before my career started, I never would’ve imagined finding myself in this position. It wasn’t even a dream because it felt so far away — I wasn’t even thinking about it. Now I find myself here, playing the longest final in the history of Roland-Garros. It hurts, yes, but on the other hand, you can’t go on crying.”

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

Italy's Jannik Sinner prepares to serve against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz during their final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Italy's Jannik Sinner misses to return against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz during their final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Second placed Italy's Jannik Sinner reacts after the final match of the French Tennis Open against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Italy's Jannik Sinner gestures as he plays against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz during their final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Second placed Italy's Jannik Sinner reacts after the final match of the French Tennis Open against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

SEATTLE (AP) — Sacha Boisvert scored his first NHL goal with 5:42 to play to give Chicago a two-goal lead and Tyler Bertuzzi scored his team-leading 32nd goal as the Blackhawks beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Saturday night.

Teuvo Teravainen and Ilya Mikheyev also scored for the Blackhawks, who snapped a five-game losing streak and have already been eliminated from playoff contention.

Arvid Soderblom made 25 saves for the Blackhawks and Connor Bedard had two assists, lifting his team-leading total to 41 and pushing his career point total to 199.

Jaden Schwartz and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Kraken, who are still in the hunt for the playoffs with 75 points, six points out of the West’s second wild-card spot. Seattle, which has lost four straight and is just 5-12-2 since the Olympic break, has seven games left.

With the Blackhawks up 2-1, Boisvert streaked down the slot on an odd-man rush and took a pass from Kevin Korchinski before shooting a one-timer past Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer, who had 27 saves.

Teravainen put the Blackhawks on the board with a power-play goal at 9:15 of the second period, taking Bedard’s pass and poking a shot inside the left post that trickled in off Grubauer’s skate.

Bertuzzi made it 2-0 with 22.2 seconds left in the second, tucking the rebound of a shot by Andre Burakovsky. Mikheyev scored into an empty net with 1:12 remaining.

Schwartz’s 11th of the year cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1 with 9:12 remaining. Kakko’s goal with 5:42 left made it 3-2.

Kraken: Visit Winnipeg on Monday night.

Blackhawks: Visit San Jose on Monday night in their final road game of the season.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Chicago Blackhawks' Sacha Boisvert skates during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)