Lorenzo Musetti had won the opening set against the second-seeded Spaniard but was obliged to call it quits when trailing 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-0, 2-0 after suffering a thigh injury.

"I felt at the beginning of the third (set) when I was serving, I start to, start losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind, and definitely was going worse and worse, so I decided to stop," Musetti told his post-match press conference.

"I think was, you know, the right decision to make, even if it was not what I wanted.

"(I'm) really honestly sad and disappointed on how it ended, but still a great match so far."

The abrupt ending was an unfortunate denouement to an intriguing battle between the rivals.

Alcaraz had got the better of Musetti in their previous two meetings on clay this season -- in the final at Monte Carlo and the last four in Rome.

But on Court Philippe Chatrier, only the finest of margins separated the pair through the opening two sets.

"I think today that this probably the best match of these three matches that we played. I think today I was playing in the right way, and he was struggling sometimes," Musetti said.

"At the end if I have to analyse those two sets, they were really, really great sets. Of course the third one and let's say the last two games, there was of course no chance to play at his level with this problem.

"It was an unlucky situation."

The Spaniard raced through the third set, with Musetti receiving treatment on his left thigh during a change of ends at 0-5 before being forced to quit three games later.

"I start to feel like the beginning of the fourth that I couldn't go for the rallies, and I could not move like I was doing before," explained Musetti.

"There was too much risk, you know, to take to go forward and to, you know, to be able to of course show something even for the crowd."

The untimely injury brought a disappointing close to an otherwise excellent clay-court season for the world number seven as he reached at least the semi-finals of the three Masters-level tournaments, as well as Roland Garros.

Looking forward to the upcoming grass-court season, the 2024 Wimbledon semi-finalist said: "It's too early to say... We are going to evaluate tomorrow what the exam will say, and we're gonna of course update you guys and take a decision for what's next."

Musetti is due to play in the warm-up event at Queen's, which starts on June 16, before moving on to SW19 at the end of the month where he will be hoping to go one better than last year, if fit.