Alcaraz reaches US Open quarterfinals in his first tournament since April

Carlos Alcaraz reached the US Open quarterfinals on Sunday night with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Tommy Paul on Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was his fourth match since a right wrist injury interrupted his season in Barcelona in April, and little in the numbers suggested a player four matches into a comeback.

The match

Alcaraz controlled the match from the net, where he won 23 of 29 points, and on serve, where he was broken once in 15 games. Beyond that single break, Paul's only real opening came at 5-4 in the third set, when he led 15-40 on Alcaraz's serve. Alcaraz saved both points and served out the match. He converted four of his 14 break points, and Paul's ten saves are the main reason the sets were as close as they were. Alcaraz hit 33 winners to Paul's 18; both made 32 unforced errors.

33Alcaraz

18Paul

Asked whether he was back at full power, Alcaraz said: "I think so." The tactical explanation was straightforward: "I just put so much pressure on the return games, which for me it helps a lot to play relaxed."

Paul has lost seven of nine meetings with Alcaraz and leaves New York in the fourth round for the second year running. The US Open is the only major where he has not reached a quarterfinal, an odd gap for an American of his ranking.

The recovery

Alcaraz had not played a singles match since 14 April, when he beat Otto Virtanen in the first round in Barcelona and then withdrew with the wrist injury before his second match. An injury first assumed to be minor turned into a lost spring and summer: Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, where he was the two-time defending champion, then Queen's and Wimbledon, both confirmed on 19 May, then the Canadian Open and Cincinnati. By late July he had gone more than 100 days without an official match.

He rehabilitated at home in Murcia, beginning with physical training and court work that protected the wrist, then reintroducing the forehand and gradually raising the intensity. The last test before he committed was a training block with Holger Rune, which is not a gentle way to find out whether a wrist holds. He confirmed his entry on Thursday 20 August.

"The first month was kind of difficult for me, because I couldn't do anything with my right arm. It was tough," he said before the tournament. "My team and me, we believe that I'm ready. It wasn't an easy decision." He said he had not changed his technique and that his aim was to feel like himself again.

The tournament so far

Alcaraz beat Roman Safiullin, Jaime Faria 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 and Wu Yibing before Paul. He has won 11 consecutive matches at the US Open and 18 in a row at hard-court majors, a run that began with his title here last year. This is his 15th Grand Slam quarterfinal.

The draw has changed around him, mostly in his favour. Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1, withdrew with a right knee injury on 21 August, less than a day after Alcaraz confirmed his return, which made Alexander Zverev the top seed and Alcaraz the second. Sinner has not played since winning Wimbledon. Novak Djokovic lost his opening match to Mariano Navone. Alcaraz is three wins from becoming the first man to retain the US Open since Roger Federer, who won it five years running from 2004 to 2008, and the player he would most likely have had to beat to do it is not in the draw.

Next

Alcaraz plays eighth seed Ben Shelton on Tuesday. Shelton beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday. The other quarterfinal in the bottom half is between Frances Tiafoe, who needed two tiebreaks to beat Daniil Medvedev, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (6), and Alex Michelsen, who beat Tomás Martín Etcheverry 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-4. Zverev, in the top half, plays Luciano Darderi on Monday nightde. The final is scheduled for Sunday 13 September.