Men’s world No. 1 tennis player Carlos Alcaraz is through to the semifinals at the US Open. The 20-year-old Spaniard defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and 30 minutes. It was comfortable in the end, though he started the match with a double fault.
The first set remained on serve until the seventh game when Alcaraz broke Zverez and the exertions from the four-hour and 41-minute victory over Jannik Sinner started taking a toll on the German.
Alcaraz saved two game points to take the seventh and took the first set in the ninth game to love in 48 minutes. Zverev took the first game of the second set, but Alcaraz responded and raced to a 3-1 lead. Zverev held his serve in the fifth game, but again Alcaraz showed an uptick that gave him the second set in 43 minutes.
At this point, Zverev took a medical timeout while Alcaraz did racquet tricks for the Arthur Ashe crowd. The third set saw an improvement in Zverev’s game, and both players held serve until the ninth when Alcaraz broke again and served out the third set with a winner down the line. The third set took an hour.
Two matches from a successful defence of the US Open title and the real prospect of again facing Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz said, ” “It’s closer than at the beginning of the tournament. We’re just one match from that potential final. It could be great.
“But both of us have really tough semi-finals. So let’s see. Obviously, both of us are looking for that potential final.
“Last year was very tough since the fourth round I played five sets [to get to the final].
“Here I’ve played just one match that has gone to four sets. I feel great physically, and I’m ready to play a great battle with Medvedev in the semi-finals,” Alcaraz added.
He becomes the youngest top seed in the tournament’s history and faces No. 3 seed and 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev in the semifinal. The other semifinal will be contested by Novak Djokovic and new US sensation Ben Shelton.
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