On the women’s side, both Sabalenka and Gauff have had a mostly charmed run through the draw at Roland-Garros, with Sabalenka looking momentarily flummoxed by the three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek before swinging for the fences in their third set and dominating. Gauff, meanwhile, has been on a roll through most of the clay-court season and stormed her way through to the finals here.

Aryna Sabalenka after besting Iga Swiatek in their semifinal match on Thursday.

Photo: Getty Images

The story of the tournament on the women’s side, though, was the improbable and seemingly impossible run of Lois Boisson, the French woman who had played a single match on the WTA tour before Roland-Garros but nonetheless battled her way to the semifinals, dispatching third-ranked Jessica Pegula and sixth-ranked Mirra Andreeva before being stopped in her tracks by Gauff. Ranked 361st at the start of the tourney, Boisson will jump to 65th—and her career earnings of about $148,000 will take a similar jump (her check for making the semifinals is about $780,000).

So who’s going to win? I’m delighted to report that this year, that answer is more up-in-the-air than ever: While Alcaraz holds a 7-4 record against Sinner, they’ve only played each other on clay three times, with Alcaraz taking two of them. On the other hand, it’s Sinner, not Alcaraz, who’s looked more indomitable lately. Yes, Alcaraz may play with the crowd-pleasing pyrotechnics, but Sinner’s consistency is the reason he’s ranked first in the world. However, with Sinner pushed hard physically by Djokovic in the semis while Alcaraz faced what amounted to only two competitive sets, we’re giving the conditioning and stamina edge to Alcaraz. Will that be enough? Given that he already outclasses everybody in this regard, it should be a superpower on Sunday: Carlos in four sets.