After beating Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-5 7-6(3) in the French Open semifinals, 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 ourselves in the best possible way,” Sinner said on Friday. “And the stage, it doesn’t get any bigger now.” Djokovic has won a record 24 Grand Slam titles, but could not counter Sinner’s relentless accuracy and pounding forehands. “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.

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 US 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 has 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 the 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.