Swiatek vs Muchova LIVE stream: French Open 2023 latest tennis scores, updates and results

In the end, Novak Djokovic was right: Carlos Alcaraz may have won their only previous meeting, but best-of-five at a grand slam was always going to be different.

So it proved. For well over two hours, the most-anticipated match of the year lived up to the hype. Djokovic and Alcaraz traded blows and held the French Open crowd in their spell. Djokovic needed to be at his highest level to take the first set 6-3, then Alcaraz found his spark and raised his own game to win the second 7-5. A third set of equal brilliance beckoned, as did a fourth and even a fifth. Djokovic, 36, won 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1.

But then Alcaraz stopped. After jumping on a Djokovic serve, he pulled up and felt his lower right leg. His calf had seized painfully, and the cramps began to spread around his body. “Not only the legs,” Alcaraz said. “The arms, as well.” It was a different match from then. Alcaraz refused to quit but it was a non-contest. The Spaniard, so thrilling when in full flight, moved like a bird whose wings had been clipped.

It is perhaps only now that Alcaraz and everyone else realises how different a proposition facing Djokovic at a grand slam really is.

Novak Djokovic will bid for a men’s record 23rd grand slam title against Casper Ruud in the French Open final.

Djokovic has the chance to move ahead of Rafael Nadal as the Serbian aims to become the oldest Roland Garros champion in history.

Ruud has reached his second French Open final in a row as the 24-year-old looks to claim a first grand slam title.

The Norwegian was thrashed by Nadal in last year’s final and admitted he will again be the “underdog” as Djokovic attempts to make history.

“Novak is going for his 23rd, I’m going for my first. It’s a big difference,” Ruud said.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Carlos Alcaraz admitted tension got the better of him after he was hobbled by cramp in his hotly-anticipated French Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic.

The 20-year-old had just won an electrifying second set to level the contest and looked like he might be grabbing the ascendancy when, after hitting a return in the second game of the third, his whole body seized up.

Alcaraz managed to carry on but won only one more game as Djokovic triumphed 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1 to reach a 34th grand slam final, where he will face Casper Ruud.

The Spaniard did look a lot more anxious than usual at the start of the biggest match in men’s tennis for a year and, asked what had caused the cramp, he said: “The tension of the match.

“I started the match really nervous. The tension of the first set, the second set, it was a really intense two sets, as well. I have never felt something like I did today. I have never felt that tension that I did in that match.

“I disappointed myself, and in a match like this, coming to this match with great feeling, feeling great physically, and cramping at the end of the second set, beginning of the third set. It was really disappointing.”

Iga Swiatek on Karolina Muchova: “I still feel like I know Karolina’s game anyway because I played many practices with her since 2019, and I also watch her actually more than most of the players. Just a coincidence, but it happened. And I really like her game, honestly. I really respect her, and she’s I feel like a player who can do anything, you know. She has great touch. She can also speed up the game.

“She plays with that kind of freedom in her movements. And she has a great technique. So I watched her matches and I feel like I know her game pretty well. But obviously on matches, it’s a little bit different and I’ll be ready no matter what.”

Iga Swiatek and Karolina Muchova have only met once before, with the Czech winning in three sets on hard court in Prague in 2019. A lot has happened since, however.

“It was one of my first WTA tournaments, and I had to play last match of qualification and my first round against Karolina the same day, because it was raining days before,” Swiatek said. “I felt like a rookie and I didn’t know if I should be in that place or not.

“But I remember she played really well. It was a three-setter, pretty tight.”

Iga Swiatek has the chance to begin a dynasty at Roland Garros is the 22-year-old can defend her title. If Swiatek defeats Muchova, the Pole will become the first player to defend the women’s singles title since Justine Henin won three in a row between 2005 and 2007.

Swiatek could also become the youngest player to win four grand slam titles since Serena Williams.

Comparisons with her idol Rafael Nadal may be distinctly premature but Swiatek can take another step towards establishing her own dynasty at Roland Garros with a third title on Saturday.

The Pole has only suffered two defeats on the Parisian clay, winning her first title as an unseeded teenager in 2020 then reclaiming it last year.

“Rafa, what he did and what he’s still doing, it’s pretty amazing,” she said.

“So it was totally out of my reach. And still he played so well so many years. I don’t know if it’s going to be possible for me. But I just try to compete, keep it cool year by year and just do everything step by step.”

Out of nowhere, Muchova will now play in her first grand slam final. At 43rd in the world, she will be one of the lowest-ranked women to ever compete in the final at Roland Garros. Injuries severely disrupted her season last year, as well as her progress. Muchova dropped outside of the world’s top 200.

“In the past, it was not easy,” Muchova revealed. “That’s actually what makes me appreciate this result even more now, because I know what I have been through in the past. There have been many moments, many lows, I would say, from one injury to another. Some doctors told me, you know, maybe you’ll not do sport anymore. But I always kept it kind of positive in my mind, and tried to work and do all the exercises to be able to come back.’’

Karolina Muchova has an incredible record when playing top three opponents. Her victory against Sabalenka in the semi-finals was the fifth time she had beaten a top-three player in five attempts. She’s just the second player in history to do that, after Martina Navratilova.

“I didn’t really even know about this statistic,” Muchova admitted. “It just shows me that I can play against them. I can compete, and obviously the matches are super close. Even today, match ball down, you really never know if I win or lose, but it’s great to know that I have the chance to win and I win against the top players, and that for sure boosts my confidence.”

Alfie Hewett missed out on a fourth French Open wheelchair singles title and lost his world number one ranking to Japanese teenager Tokito Oda.

The pair had met in the final of the Australian Open, with Norfolk’s Hewett winning comfortably, but 17-year-old Oda turned the tables at Roland Garros with a 6-1 6-4 victory.

Hewett battled back from 4-2 down to level at 4-4 in the second set but could not hold serve and Oda clinched his first grand-slam title.

After Stuttgart and Madrid, there was supposed to be Roland Garros. The French Open final looked to have been reserved for Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1 and world No 2, a clash between the previous two grand slam winners and the latest chapter of a flourishing rivalry.

Sabalenka had looked in unstoppable form in Roland Garros, even at times in Friday’s semi-final. She held serve with the chance to face Swiatek for the title; she even had match point.

Then Karolina Muchova happened.

The unexpected threat to Iga Swiatek’s French Open defence