Carlos Alcaraz is two wins away from defending his French Open crown after reaching the semi-finals with a statement victory. The world No. 2 dropped just five games to beat Tommy Paul on Tuesday night and quickly apologised to the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd.

Alcaraz sealed a 6-0 6-1 6-4 victory in just an hour and 34 minutes, and told the 15,000 fans: “I know you wanted to watch more tennis.”

Last year’s champion enjoyed his best victory of the tournament so far, breezing past Paul in their seventh career meeting.

The American used to be something of a bogey player for Alcaraz, beating him two years in a row at the Canadian Open, but the 22-year-old proved untouchable on Tuesday night and bagelled Paul in half an hour before racing through the next two sets.

Although Alcaraz was delighted with his level, he knew the night session fans - who only got one match on their ticket - would be disappointed.

“It’s always fun playing here in Paris. I have to say, I know you wanted to watch more tennis, I have to say sorry about it!” the second seed smiled.

“I have to do my work. But once again, it’s great to play in front of all of you. I just feel great. The energy is amazing match after match. All I can say is thank you very much for coming and supporting tennis.”

Alcaraz received a rousing applause for his apology. But he wasn’t too sorry, as he admitted it was one of those nights where everything clicked.

The reigning champion added: “I could close my eyes and everything went in! My feeling was unbelievable, I was trying to hit every shot at my 100 per cent no matter what.

“Not thinking about anything else, just hitting forward, and today was just one of those matches that everything went in. I’m just pleased with everything.”

Paul has been carrying an injury throughout his quarter-final run in Paris, but Alcaraz knew the No. 12 seed would be a dangerous opponent no matter what, and he used it as motivation.

“We are in the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, of Roland Garros. I mean, these kinds of matches are never easy,” he explained.

“I played against Tommy many times and every match was really, really difficult, he beat me twice. So that helped me at the beginning of the match just to focus on my tennis.

“I tried to step on the court, really focus on my things. Try not to go down or let him get into the match. I was trying to be focused during the whole match. I think I tried, but as you said, Tommy is an unbelievable player so that helped me a lot today.”