Defending champion at US Open
Alcaraz easily reaches the quarterfinals
9/4/2023 10:23 p.m
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz hardly shows any weakness at the US Open. The 20-year-old reached the quarter-finals for the third time in a row without losing a set. “I played a very solid match,” he says almost modestly.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz marched into the quarterfinals at the US Open in New York, easily winning his 11th straight match at Flushing Meadows. The Wimbledon winner from Spain defeated the Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6: 3, 6: 3, 6: 4 in the round of 16 and was well prepared for a possible duel with Alexander Zverev.
The German Olympic champion and Jannik Sinner play the next and by far the toughest opponent of the only 20-year-old model athlete on Tuesday night. Alcaraz is definitely the favorite – even if he beat the brave world number 61. Arnaldi, who had never survived the second round of a Grand Slam tournament before, had not yet offered his very best tennis.
“I played a very solid match and made few mistakes, so I’m very satisfied,” said Alcaraz on the stadium microphone: “Afterwards I’ll watch Jannik against Sascha, it’s a nice match to watch. The quarter-finals will definitely be there very hard.” Alcaraz won an epic quarter-final in five sets last year against Sinner. Alcaraz lost the only Grand Slam match against Zverev in four sets in the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2022.
Audience longs for the fourth movement
The world number one – his Serbian rival Novak Djokovic, who he can only meet in the final, will replace Alcaraz in first place after the US Open – played very concentrated for two sets and had Arnaldi, who was two years his senior, largely under control. At the beginning of the third round, Alcaraz suffered a weak phase and conceded the break to make it 1: 2.
The audience in the largest tennis arena in the world, Arthur Ashe, which seats around 23,000 spectators, was enthusiastic and longed for a fourth set. But Alcaraz, who could become the youngest two-time US Open champion in history, quickly pulled himself together. Unlike in round three against Brit Daniel Evans, he did not lose a set.