Carlos Alcaraz found himself in a hint of a predicament 35 minutes into his U.S. Open quarterfinal against Alexander Zverev on Wednesday night.
At 3-all in the first set under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Zverev earned the first break points of the match. An opening. An opportunity to gain an early edge against the defending champion. And then - poof! - gone. Alcaraz dismissed those chances to hold, then gained a break himself in the next game by depositing an overhead that bounced into the stands. One more service hold arrived and, just like that, the set belonged to Alcaraz, as did, eventually, a spot in the semifinals.
Perhaps the 12th-seeded Zverev, a 26-year-old German who was the runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open, was feeling the after-effects of his 4-hour, 41-minute win over Jannik Sinner in the fourth round two days earlier. Perhaps otherwise, Zverev could have offered more of a challenge to Alcaraz, a 20-year-old from Spain.
He improved to 24-1 in his past four major tournaments: After the championship in New York 12 months ago, he sat out the Australian Open with a leg injury, made it to the semifinals of the French Open before cramping up in a loss to Novak Djokovic, and added the Wimbledon trophy by beating Djokovic in the final, before the run over these two weeks.First things first, though. Alcaraz will take on 2021 U.S.
With Alcaraz serving at 3-3 in the early going, it was Zverev who buckled, missing a backhand on each of his break points.
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