Djokovic, Alcaraz to clash in dream Olympic gold medal showdown

PARIS, France — A fired-up Novak Djokovic on Friday (Saturday, Manila time) reached his first Olympic final, where he will face Carlos Alcaraz in a dream showdown for gold, describing his achievement as "a big deal".

Top seed Djokovic, still seeking an elusive Olympic title to sit along his 24 Grand Slams, defeated Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-2 in a tense semifinal.

Alcaraz earlier became the youngest men's finalist since tennis returned to the Games in 1988 when he swept aside Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1.

Sunday's title match at Roland Garros will be the pair's seventh meeting and follows on the heels of Alcaraz's recent victory against Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.

"It's a huge relief," said Djokovic, whose only success at the Olympics was a bronze medal at Beijing in 2008.

"Three out of four Olympic Games, I played semis, won bronze from the first one in Beijing.

"So just to secure a higher medal for the first time for my country, whatever happens on Sunday, is a huge honour. I'm going to go for gold. There's no doubt about it -- this is a big deal."

The 37-year-old Djokovic, who showed no sign of the right knee injury he aggravated in Thursday's quarter-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, said Alcaraz would be the favourite.

The 21-year-old Spaniard captured the French Open title on the same Court Philippe Chatrier in June.

Serbia's Djokovic said he has "nothing to lose".

"He beat me at Wimbledon. But these are different circumstances and I feel I am a better player than at Wimbledon.

"I will come out and play my best tennis."

Djokovic's fierce desire to reach the final boiled over in the second set against Musetti when he was twice warned for taking too long to serve.

He was also warned for swearing at the umpire.

"I was thinking about all the semfinals that I lost in the Olympic Games before today's match and that's why I was very tense on the court," admitted Djokovic.

French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz hammered Canada's Auger-Aliassime in just 75 minutes.

- 'Objective is gold' -

"It has been an objective since the start of the year to try and win the gold medal and now we have one match left to try and get it done," said Alcaraz.

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