Dominant Carlos Alcaraz cruises into Olympic men's tennis final - ESPN

PARIS — Carlos Alcaraz moved one win away from becoming the youngest man to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal by beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 in the Paris Games semifinals Friday.

Alcaraz, 21, is from Spain and already owns four Grand Slam titles — including in June at Roland Garros, the clay-court facility being used for tennis at the 2024 Games — and is about a month younger than Vincent Richards of the U.S. was when he claimed the gold in Paris in 1924.

With dozens of spectators waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags at Court Philippe Chatrier or yelling «Vamos, Carlos!» on a cloudy afternoon — and a soundtrack provided during breaks in the action by a brass band in the stands — Alcaraz was dominant and never faced a break point.

He won the point on 10 of 11 trips to the net. He made just 13 unforced errors, 10 fewer than Auger-Aliassime, who also lost to Alcaraz at this year's French Open.

«I just couldn't find a way to be comfortable in any pattern, any position. Whether it was trying to dominate the forehand cross-court or change of direction, the forehand inside-out, the backhand side,» Auger-Aliassime said. «Every aspect. The movement. The defense. I was dominated.»

Auger-Aliassime is a 23-year-old Canadian whose best showing at a major tournament was a semifinal appearance at the 2021 US Open. Auger-Aliassime made it to that round back then when Alcaraz, just 18 at the time, stopped playing in the second set of their quarterfinal because of an injured leg muscle.

«He's improved a lot, every time we've played,» said Auger-Aliassime, who beat Alcaraz in each of their first three head-to-head contests but now has lost the four since, all in straight sets. «I don't have the solutions right now.»

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