08 September,2026 09:18 AM IST | New York | AFP
Carlos Alcaraz returns to Tommy Paul in New York on Sunday. Pic/AFP
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, gaining confidence with every match, cruised into the US Open quarter-finals on Sunday with a comprehensive victory over Tommy Paul.
The second-seeded Spaniard, playing his first tournament after a four-month absence with a right wrist injury, beat Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his fifth quarter-final at Flushing Meadows - where he won the first of his seven Grand Slam titles back in 2022. "Really happy to see where my level is right now," Alcaraz said.
"Beating Tommy Paul is always great feedback to see where you are, and [I'm] just really happy about everything I've done today. I think I returned pretty well. I saw really well the game today, what I had to do in every moment, using the right things in every moment. So I'm just really happy."
The 23-year-old, who claimed his seventh Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, had admitted to some trepidation as he opted to make his injury return at the final Grand Slam of the year.
After wins over Roman Safiullin, Jaime Faria, and Wu Yibing, Alcaraz pointed to some rust - a few more forehand errors than he liked to see and some suspect decision making on court. But he put it all together against Paul, his first top-25 opponent of the tournament.
Carlos Alcaraz suffered a right-wrist injury during his opening match against Finland's Otto Virtanen at the Barcelona Open in April this year. The injury forced him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon, apart from the Madrid Open and Rome Masters, before he returned to the defend his US Open with doubts about his recovery.
Usually, players have their tournament draw memorised as they enter any tournament and more so at a Grand Slam. However, Carlos Alcaraz was surprisingly mistaken about his next opponent after storming into the quarter-final with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Tommy Paul on Sunday.
During an interview with ESPN, Andy Roddick asked the Spaniard what he thought about Ben Shelton or Stefanos Tsitsipas, one of whom would be playing him next. "You're either going to play Shelton or Tsitsipas. Maybe just a word on both of them and the challenges," Roddick said.
A rather stunned Alcaraz paused before replying: "Really? Oh my God, I thought I was playing Medvedev-Tiafoe." Both Alcaraz and Roddick broke into a laugh. While Shelton beat Tsitsipas, Frances Tiafoe beat Daniil Medvedev a little later.
Ben Shelton beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Linda Noskova beat Marta Kostyuk 7-5, 5-7, 6-4
Jessica Pegula beat Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-4
Five
No of US Open quarter-finals reached by Carlos Alcaraz in six appearances
18
No of consecutive Grand Slam matches won by Alcaraz, after beating Tommy Paul
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