PARIS — It’s tough enough for any player to deal with Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open. When you’re not at your absolute best against the defending champion, as was the case for Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals Tuesday night, there’s no chance.

No. 2 seed Alcaraz returned to the semifinals at Roland-Garros for the third consecutive year with a 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 12 Paul, who had his right thigh heavily taped and was unable to run, serve or hit groundstrokes at full force.

“I’ve felt better, you know?” said Paul, who had leg and abdominal muscle issues during the tournament. “Obviously, I went into the match like, ‘I want to win the match.’ But pretty early on in the match, it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t moving amazing.”

Didn’t help his cause that Alcaraz was at his very

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