Carlos Alcaraz triumphed in a first-set tiebreaker and posted another straight-sets victory Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in New York.
The Spanish star and No. 2 seed defeated France’s Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4. He’ll meet Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka in the quarters after Lehecka topped Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (4), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
No. 7 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia secured his 14th U.S. Open quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win over Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff. The four-time U.S. Open champ has a showdown Tuesday with No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz, who’s in the quarterfinals for the third year in a row thanks to a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over No. 21 Tomas Machac of Czechia.
Alcaraz, at 22 years and three months old, became the youngest man to reach his 13th Grand Slam quarterfinal, according to the ATP Tour. He surpassed Boris Becker’s previous mark, as Becker was six months older when he notched quarterfinal bid No. 13.
Alcaraz also remained spotless in his U.S. Open run, having won all 12 sets he’s played. Alcaraz lost just four games in his second-round rout and six games in the third round.
The streak was in jeopardy early Sunday, as neither Alcaraz nor Rinderknech held serve throughout the first set. Rinderknech moved ahead 2-1 in the tiebreaker before Alcaraz rattled off the next five points and eased to victory.
“At the beginning of the first set, we were tight. We didn’t have break points in the first set, but it didn’t mean we were serving good, because the percentage was really bad from both,” Alcaraz said in his post-match interview. “I just (found) a good rhythm, a good position for the returns … I tried to make the most of the opportunities that he gave me, but there weren’t too many.”
Alcaraz did win a whopping 45 of 53 first-service points (84.9 percent) and capitalized when his opponent went to his second serve. Alcaraz won 20 of 38 second-return points (52.6 percent).
He hit 36 winners to just 11 unforced errors, while Rinderknech committed more unforced errors (28) than he had winners (25).
For Lehecka, it will be just his second quarterfinal appearance at a Grand Slam following the 2023 Australian Open. The 23-year-old hit 18 aces and overcame 10 double faults against Mannarino.
Djokovic breezed to victory under the lights against Struff as he rifled off 12 aces with no double faults. The 38-year-old Serbian’s return game also was on point as Struff managed to win just 54 percent of his first serves.
Fritz, 27, never allowed Machac to get to a break point as he stacked up 14 aces versus two double faults. The California native won 86 percent of his first serves and 70 percent of his second serves. Now he’s just two wins away from returning to the U.S. Open final, where he lost last year to Jannik Sinner.
Fritz, however, has yet to solve Djokovic. They have met 10 times over the last six years — including in the 2023 U.S. Open quarterfinals — and Djokovic has won every time.
–Field Level Media
