Alcaraz, entered the top 10 when he was still 18, won after 3h35 min of fight.

He will play the second Masters 1000 final of his nascent career either against world No.3 and trophy holder Alexander Zverev, or against world No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, opposed in the evening.

Rafael Nadal's faller the day before, for their third face-to-face, Alcaraz becomes the youngest player (ahead of Tsitsipas) to have hooked both Djokovic and his great Spanish rival on his hunting board.

He also becomes the first to beat them both in the same clay-court tournament.

Two statistics that only confirm the vertiginous rise of the young Spaniard, promised to bright days - even if Nadal and Djokovic are not at the moment the scarecrows that they were (and could become again).

From Roland-Garros in two weeks (May 22-June 5)?

Fans of epic duels have been served.

And the Caja Magica of Madrid made no mistake about it by launching into an ola as the outcome approached and accompanying its new wonder to the end with "Si se puede!", the Spanish equivalent of "Yes we can", loudly.

World No.6 Monday

On a thread throughout the decisive round, Djokovic held on until the tie-break.

But Alcaraz, who had already got five break points and even a first match point at 5-4 in this third set, ended up delivering the blow after more than 3h30 min of play.

Serbian Novak Djokovic serving during his semi-final loss against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz at the Masters 1000 in Madrid on Saturday May 7, 2022 GABRIEL BOUYS AFP

Before that, the world No.1 had narrowly escaped in the first, in the decisive game, after being broken from the start and leading 4 games to 2.

Then Alcaraz, visibly not bothered by his badly twisted right ankle the day before against Nadal, had equalized with one set everywhere after already more than two hours of play, while the shadow won the Madrid Central.

With a lethal weapon: exceptionally affected cushioning in spades, on which Djokovic was most often powerless.

Even beaten, the world N.1 leaves with a certainty: he who is looking for his best level after a first quarter almost at a standstill marked by his incredible expulsion from Australia, for lack of vaccination against Covid-2019, is definitely on the right track.

If he ended up folding, the Serb held the shock for a long time against the player in form of the moment, and avoided the dry breakdown he had experienced both in Monte Carlo and in Belgrade in the previous weeks.

After Miami in early April, here is Alcaraz again in the Masters 1000 final a month later.

The protege of Juan-Carlos Ferrero, ex-world No.1 and winner of Roland-Garros 2003, will climb to sixth place in the world on Monday.

© 2022 AFP