World number two Carlos Alcaraz reached the final of the Barcelona Open after beating Briton Daniel Evans 6-2 6-2 on Saturday to set up a showdown with fellow top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas who defeated Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 5-7 6-3.
Alcaraz, who had an injury-plagued start to the season and was beaten in the semi-final of last week's Miami Open by Jannik Sinner, was unstoppable against Evans, even as he appeared to be conserving his energy for the claycourt season.
The 19-year-old Alcaraz broke early in the first set and closed it 6-2 in 38 minutes. He raced to 4-1 in the second and beat Evans in 80 minutes to reach the final in Barcelona for the second consecutive year.
World number five Tsitsipas had a more complicated challenge against Musetti, surrendering a break in the third game. However, he managed to fight back and clinch the first set 6-4 after winning three consecutive games.
The Greek player quickly moved to 5-3 and had the opportunity to serve for the match, but collapsed under pressure, allowing Musetti to fight back and win the second set 7-5.
Musetti came close to a break point in the first game of the decisive set, but Tsitsipas kept his composure and went on to comfortably close out the match.
{{/usCountry}}Musetti came close to a break point in the first game of the decisive set, but Tsitsipas kept his composure and went on to comfortably close out the match.
{{/usCountry}}Tsitsipas will try to claim his first ever win against Alcaraz, who in December became the youngest year-end No. 1 in the history of the ATP. Alcaraz defeated Tsitsipas in the 2021 US Open and in last year's Miami Masters and Barcelona Open.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.