Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz moved into his second successive French Open final after Lorenzo Musetti retired injured in the fourth set of their semi-final.
Spanish second seed Alcaraz led 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 2-0 when Italy’s Musetti, aiming to reach his first major final, was forced to end the match early.
“It’s never fair. I want to win but not like this,” said Alcaraz.
Eighth seed Musetti needed treatment for a thigh problem at the end of the third set.
“When I was serving I started losing a bit of strength on the left leg and it was getting worse and worse,” the 23-year-old said.
“It was the right decision to make, but not what I wanted.”
The pair have been the leading clay-court players on the ATP Tour this year and showed why in two high-quality, competitive sets.
But once he levelled, 22-year-old Alcaraz unleashed his attacking shots to devastating effect to take control of the match.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz, who won Roland Garros for the first time last year, will face either Novak Djokovic or Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final.
Serb sixth seed Djokovic, 38, continues his bid for a standalone record 25th title when he faces Italian world number one Sinner later on Friday (18:00 BST).
Alcaraz said he would be tuning in for the match, adding: “I’m not going to miss it. This match is one of the best match-ups we have in tennis right now.
“It is going to be great tennis. I’m going to enjoy it. I’m going to take tactics from the match.”
Alcaraz’s biggest test ends early
Alcaraz has not been at his clinical best over the past fortnight and Musetti , 23, promised to be his sternest test yet.
While Alcaraz leads the men’s tour in terms of clay-court victories this season, Musetti is right behind him, having won 19 of his 23 matches on the surface.
The Italian reached the semi-finals of all three clay-court Masters before doing the same at Roland Garros. But questions had been raised about Musetti’s mentality and whether he truly believed he could beat the very best on the biggest stage.
He had already lost twice to Alcaraz on clay this season – in Monte Carlo and Rome over three sets – but showed no signs of lacking faith as he took the opening set.
In fact, it was Alcaraz who showed the first hint of nerves.
The set was going smoothly for the Spaniard until a poor service game allowed Musetti to take his first break point of the match on set point.
Alcaraz responded by breaking in the third game of the second set, but Musetti hit straight back to level for 2-2.
Musetti’s focus dipped as he lost serve in the 11th game – but it did not prove costly.
Alcaraz showed tension again with a double fault for 15-30 before Musetti used his stylish one-handed backhand to level again.
Sometimes accused of being too casual, Alcaraz fully locked in to start the tie-break and took the third of his five set points to level.
A delicately-poised match was ruined as a contest when it became apparent that Musetti was struggling.
Musetti won just five points in a 22-minute third set and could not move freely before shaking hands with Alcaraz at the net.