Carlos Alcaraz advances to first Rome final, bids for seventh Masters 1000 title

ROME (AP) — Carlo Alcaraz advanced to his first Italian Open final with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Lorenzo Musetti on Friday.

It's the third final in three clay-court events this season for Alcaraz, who won the Monte Carlo Masters and finished runner-up in the Barcelona Open before withdrawing from the Madrid Open because of injury.

A four-time Grand Slam champion, Alcaraz is preparing to defend his title at the French Open, which starts May 25.

In Sunday's final, Alcaraz will face either top-ranked Jannik Sinner or No. 12 Tommy Paul, who were playing in the night session at the Foro Italico.

Sinner cranked up his level to near-perfection in a a 6-0, 6-1 rout of Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

"Everybody saw the game against Casper," Alcaraz said. "It's a huge level.

"If I'm going to play against Tommy Paul, I have to be ready for that, and if I'm playing against Jannik, I have to be ready for that battle and obviously dealing with the crowd," Alcaraz said. "So it's going to be an interesting Sunday for sure."

The women's final on Saturday features Coco Gauff against Jasmine Paolini.

Paolini and partner Sara Errani also advanced to the women's doubles final when they beat Russian pair Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-4 in a rematch of last year's Olympic final also won by the Italians.

The third-ranked Alcaraz withdrew from the Madrid tournament with an upper right leg issue and also had a left leg injury. In Rome, he has been wearing a long black brace covering the upper portion of his right leg stretching down to just below his knee.

Musetti took the first set off Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo final but Alcaraz broke the Italian's serve in the first game of the rematch to silence the pro-Musetti crowd on Campo Centrale. Musetti didn't help himself with a series of unforced errors and only began pushing Alcaraz at the end of the set.

Musetti was docked a point for misbehavior late in the second set after receiving a warning earlier on for breaking his racket.

On a windy day at the Foro Italico, Alcaraz said it wasn't about playing "brilliant," but rather "smart tennis" was required.

"Waiting for your chances to play aggressive, so I think I did it pretty well," Alcaraz said. "I stayed strong mentally when things didn't went to my side."

Alcaraz is playing the Italian Open for the second time. During his Rome debut last year, he lost to then-135th-ranked Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan in the third round as he dealt with a bothersome right forearm issue.