Carlos Alcaraz saves 3 championship points to beat Jannik Sinner in French Open epic

This was the longest Roland Garros final in the history of the game.

Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t blink—well, not when it matters. Down two sets, staring down three championship points, he dug deep, and five hours and 29 minutes later, he was on his back, roaring into the Paris night as a two-time French Open champion, a five-time Slam winner, and the man who ended Sinner’s 20-match Grand Slam streak.

Let’s be clear: this wasn’t just a comeback, but it was tennis survival at its rawest. Alcaraz trailed 4-6, 6-7(4), 3-5, 0/40. One point away from watching Sinner hoist the trophy.

Instead, the Spaniard flipped the match, saved all three match points, broke the world No. #1, and then bulldozed through a fourth-set tiebreak before sealing the fifth in a brutal 10-point breaker, 10-2.

Jannik Sinner came out with a purpose. He broke early, dictated play, and had Alcaraz scrambling. The Italian’s consistency from the baseline rattled Alcaraz into erratic errors. When Sinner edged the second-set breaker and went up a break in the third, it felt over. But Alcaraz doesn’t surrender. He stormed back, broke Sinner at 5-4 in the third, and refused to let go.

What happened next was historic. Down 3-5 in the fourth, Alcaraz stood on the edge. Sinner blinked three times, and that was all Alcaraz needed. Once he forced the decider, momentum had shifted. Even when Sinner broke back at 4-5 in the fifth, it didn’t matter. The Spaniard elevated again, racing to a 7-0 lead in the final-set tiebreak and clinching it 10-2.

Also Read: Full list of singles players to defend French Open title

Alcaraz is now 5-0 in Slam finals, but that wasn’t the only stat that went tumbling; there are more.

Ninth man in Open Era to pull off a two-set comeback in Grand Slam finals

Borg, Lendl, Agassi, Gaudio, Thiem, Djokovic, Nadal, Sinner, and now, Alcaraz. Sunday’s win places the Spaniard in elite territory.

Not only is he the third-youngest man ever to win five majors (behind Borg and Nadal), but he also becomes just the ninth in history to overturn a two-set deficit in a Grand Slam final.

Also Read: Top five longest tennis matches played in history

This was the longest Roland Garros final and the first one to be decided by a fifth-set tiebreak. And in that tiebreak, Alcaraz played like he was possessed: depth, pace, nerve, everything clicking.

Sinner stays No. #1, but this rivalry has been reset. Alcaraz has now won five straight matches. He also becomes the first man born in the 2000s to win 20 titles.

Two-Set Comebacks in Grand Slam Finals (Open Era)

• Bjorn Borg beat Manuel Orantes – 1974 Roland Garros
• Ivan Lendl beat John McEnroe – 1984 Roland Garros
• Andre Agassi beat Andrei Medvedev – 1999 Roland Garros
• Gaston Gaudio beat Guillermo Coria – 2004 Roland Garros
• Dominic Thiem beat Alexander Zverev – 2020 US Open
• Novak Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas – 2021 Roland Garros
• Rafael Nadal beat Daniil Medvedev – 2022 Australian Open
• Jannik Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev – 2024 Australian Open
• Carlos Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner – 2025 Roland Garros

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