Carlos Alcaraz continued his supreme form in New York as he returned to the quarter-finals of the US Open with an assured performance, closing out the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech with a 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4 win.
Alcaraz, however, had to remain patient in an intense opening set as Rinderknech imposed himself with his vicious first serve and flat, ultra‑offensive game. But the Spaniard is serving well, striking his forehand cleanly and thinking clearly on court.
Despite his incredible success, Alcaraz has rarely navigated the earlier stages of a grand slam tournament without some drama. This is the first time in his career that he has got to the quarter-finals of any grand slam championship without dropping a set. He is in the most consistent form of his career so far, having reached the final in each of his past seven events, and he has put himself in a strong position to continue this run.
At 22, he is the youngest man in the open era to reach 13 grand slam quarter-finals, beating Boris Becker’s record set in 1990, but this is the first time in his career that he has reached the quarter-finals of all four grand slam titles in a calendar year.
One year since her breakthrough run to the US Open final, Jessica Pegula continues to find her form at the perfect moment. Pegula, the fourth seed, defeated her compatriot Ann Li 6-1, 6-2 to return to the US Open quarter-finals. Despite her successful history on US hard courts, Pegula had arrived at Flushing Meadows in poor form, compiling a 2-4 record since Wimbledon. The No 2 American endured a hellish preparation week before the tournament, but she has now found her best form on the court.
“I felt terrible coming into this tournament, honestly,” she said. “I had a practice Wednesday, I think I hit with Sabalenka. She killed me. I was playing terrible. Then we went out for a second hour, and I stopped like halfway through the hour and was, like: ‘I’m done, like, this isn’t good. I don’t know why I’m out here practising.’
“It was hard, because that was the day after the mixed [doubles] finished, so we were switching to different balls, and I was a little frustrated. The day was really cold and windy. I was, like: ‘Yeah, I’m done for today.’ So I kind of walked off the court not very happy. Went and did an escape room with my friends and had two drinks and I was like, I need to just chill and stop getting so frustrated and overthinking all these practices.”
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Daniil Medvedev, meanwhile, has ended his longtime partnership with his coach Gilles Cervara in the aftermath of his dramatic first-round defeat against Benjamin Bonzi. Medvedev hired Cervara as his full‑time coach in 2017, a partnership that yielded the 2021 US Open title, the No 1 ranking and five other grand slam finals.
