World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz will face 22-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic in a blockbuster semi-final after both won their last-eight ties in Paris.
A mouth-watering French Open semi-final is in prospect after 20-year-old world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz cruised past fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to book a meeting with Novak Djokovic.
"This match is what everyone wanted to watch and it is going to be a really good match to play and to watch," Alcaraz said of Friday's semi-final.
"If you want to be the best you have to beat the best and (Djokovic) is one of the best players in the world."
The two-time Roland Garros winner initially struggled to find a weakness in 11th-seed Khachanov's serve but once he took the second set tiebreak there was no looking back for the Serbian.
Alcaraz had a third-set wobble but was otherwise largely untroubled as he won 6-2 6-1 7-6 (7-5). The Spanish star did not take long to put Tsitsipas under pressure, breaking him on his second service game.
The 24-year-old Tsitsipas, still searching for an elusive first grand slam title, could not match Alcaraz's power and precision and the Spaniard broke him to love with a sensational running forehand down the line to go 5-2 up.
He wrapped up the first set, winning 12 of the last 14 points played but was equally relentless in the second to break Tsitsipas in the very first game to love.
He added another break to go 4-1 up and even the crowd, clearly backing Tsitsipas, could not spark a comeback as Alcaraz bagged the second set when his dazed opponent double-faulted.
It was a similar story in the third as he earned a quick break and took a 5-1 lead, before he squandered three match points.
Tsitsipas launched a four-game comeback but Alcaraz ended it on his fifth match point.
"I lost my focus a little bit (in the third set) ... it was pretty tough at the end of the match," Alcaraz said.
"Believing in myself all the time, that's the most important thing. I always think that I am going to play these kinds of matches at this level.
"The key is to enjoy."
In his opening set, Djokovic did not have a single break opportunity but his metronomic game eventually clicked and there was little the Russian could do to stop his opponent's march into the last four.
"He was the better player for most of the first two sets, I was struggling to find my rhythm, I came into this a bit sluggish," Djokovic said.
"Then I played a perfect tiebreak and from that moment onwards I played a couple of levels higher. It was a big fight but that's what you expect from a grand slam quarter-final."
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