PARIS — Serbian great Novak Djokovic likely will have his final chance to win an elusive Olympic singles gold medal when he takes on Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday in Paris.

Alcaraz reached the final first on Friday with a brutal 6-1, 6-1 thrashing of overwhelmed Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at Roland Garros.

The 21-year-old second seed, who is bidding to add the Olympic gold to the French Open and Wimbledon titles he won recently, was in devastating form on Court Philippe Chatrier.

From the moment Auger-Aliassime double-faulted to hand over an early service break, it was one-way traffic as a ruthless Alcaraz wrapped up the victory in little more than an hour.

The 37-year-old Djokovic, the winner of 24 Grand Slam titles, didn’t have as easy of a time against Lorenzo Musetti, needing one hour, 50 minutes in the 6-4, 6-2 win.

A frustrated Djokovic dropped his first two service games in the second set, but Musetti couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity, giving back both breaks. Tied at two games each in the set, Djokovic won the final four games to close out the match.

That sets up a gold-medal heavyweight bout between No. 1 seed Djokovic — the oldest man to compete for tennis gold — and Alcaraz, who could become the youngest to win a men’s singles Olympic championship.

The two are tied at three wins each in their head-to-head series, with Alcaraz winning the most recent contest in the finals in straight sets at Wimbledon last month.

With a win, Djokovic would join Andre Agassi and Spain’s Rafael Nadal as the only men to have won all four majors and Olympic gold. Djokovic has only an Olympic bronze medal, won in 2008, and he has made no secret about how much he covets gold. Post-match, he admitted to being nervous throughout.

“I’ve been waiting for this for almost 20 years. I’ve played four Olympic games — this is my fifth — and I never passed the semifinals,” he said. “… I must be honest and say I was thinking about all the semifinals I lost.”

“I’m so glad to have overcome this hurdle and secure a medal for my country,” he continued. “I have achieved a lot of great things in this sport but never the finals of the Olympic Games. I am super thrilled. I hope I brought the joy to Serbian fans.”

On the women’s side, Poland’s Iga Swiatek earned the consolation of an Olympic bronze medal as she outclassed Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1.

By doing so she became the first Polish player to win an Olympic medal in tennis.

The five-time Grand Slam champion had been a strong favorite for gold but suffered a shock semifinal defeat by China’s Qinwen Zheng on Thursday.

The final between Zheng and Croatia’s Donna Vekic takes place Saturday.

Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani eased past Czech duo Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-2 in one women’s doubles semifinal on Friday to ensure the first Olympic tennis medal for Italy since 1924.

Five-time Grand Slam women’s doubles champion Errani caught Muchova by surprise with an underarm serve on match point as the Italians clinched victory in just over an hour.

“It’s a dream come true. I always had in my head the Olympics. And to be here, in this final, is unbelievable for me,” Errani said.

Paolini and Errani, who lost in the French Open final at the same venue in June, will face Russians Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, who are competing as neutral athletes, after they crushed Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes 6-1, 6-2.

At 17 years and 98 days, Andreeva is the youngest player to qualify for the Olympic women’s doubles final.

In the men’s doubles, Australians Matthew Ebden and John Peers overwhelmed Americans Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-2 to reach the final. The Australians will meet Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram for the gold medal on Saturday.

Auger-Aliassime has the possibility of taking home two medals. On Friday, he teamed with Gabriela Dabrowski in mixed doubles to defeat Wesley Koolhof and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands 6-3, 7-6 (2) to win bronze.

–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media