Carlos Alcaraz got the party started early on Arthur Ashe Stadium with a dazzling fourth-round win against France’s Arthur Rinderknech at the U.S. Open on Sunday, while fourth seed Jessica Pegula kept her pristine run going.
Second seed Alcaraz is more accustomed to Ashe’s bright lights in prime time but showed he could get the dayside crowd on their feet just as well, unleashing some nifty play at the net as he beat Rinderknech 7-6(3) 6-3 6-4.
“My style of tennis suits pretty well to the energy here in New York,” said Alcaraz, whose first-set, behind-the-back trick play quickly crossed over into social media virality.
“The energy is special playing the day session, playing the night session, it doesn’t matter.”
The five-times major winner faces Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals.
Last year’s runner-up Pegula has overcome a worrying pre-tournament run to reach the last eight without dropping a set, as she beatAmerican compatriot Ann Li 6-1 6-2 in the first match of the day on Ashe.
She next faces either Czech Barbora Krejcikova or American Taylor Townsend.
Players enjoyed another afternoon of sunny skies, after Tommy Paul’s Saturday night defeat by Alexander Bublik clouded local fans’ hopes of an end to the 22-year American men’s U.S. Open title drought.
The pressure will be on fourth seed Taylor Fritz, runner-up a year ago, when he meets Czech 21st seed Tomas Machac later on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The women’s defending champion and world number one Aryna Sabalenka plays Spain’s Cristina Busca in the final match of the day on Armstrong.
German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff will try to pull off another upset when he faces 24-times major winner Novak Djokovic in the first match in the night session on Ashe, after a confidence-inspiring run through the early rounds.
The 35-year-old dug in to beat 11th seed Holger Rune in a five-set second-round thriller, before handing American Frances Tiafoe his earliest exit from Flushing Meadows in six years in the third.
But four-times champion Djokovic, seeded seventh, will aim to end Struff’s Cinderella story and, with a 7-0 record in their head-to-head, has the right playbook to get the job done.
Ninth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and Czech Marketa Vondrousova close out the evening programme on the marquee court.
(Reuters)
