Carlos Alcaraz stormed into his third consecutive Grand Slam ultimate by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2 of their U.S. Open semifinal bout Friday afternoon in New York.
The 22-year-old Spanish star will face both World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy or Canadian twenty fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who will meet within the different semifinal Friday night.
Alcaraz is looking his sixth Grand Slam title and his second this yr, following his victory over Sinner on the French Open. He’s 45-2 in his previous 47 matches total.
Over the course of two hours and 25 minutes, Alcaraz outperformed the Serbian legend by successful 42 of his 50 first-service factors (84 %), together with seven aces. He dropped just one service sport — simply the second time his serve has been damaged all match.
“It is an ideal feeling. As soon as once more within the ultimate right here on the U.S. Open, it feels wonderful,” Alcaraz mentioned in his on-court interview.
Alcaraz received the 2022 U.S. Open and reached the semifinals the next yr earlier than a stunning second-set exit in 2024.
“At the moment, I would say — it wasn’t the very best degree of the match for me, however I simply saved a great degree from the start till the final level,” Alcaraz mentioned. “I served fairly nicely, I believe that was actually, actually essential. Attempting to play a very bodily match and I believe I did it. Usually, I performed actually good tennis and I am simply actually completely happy to have the ability to play in my second ultimate right here.”
Djokovic, 38, will end and not using a Grand Slam title for the second yr in a row. The document 24-time main winner superior to the semifinals in any respect 4 Slams this yr, however didn’t attain a ultimate.
He allowed it will proceed to be laborious to be the final man standing in Grand Slam tournaments with stars like Alcaraz and Sinner.
“I nonetheless wish to play the Grand Slam season subsequent yr,” Djokovic mentioned. “Let’s have a look at whether or not that is gonna occur or not … however I do fancy my probabilities extra in best-of-three one-week tournaments or the Masters tournaments the place you may have a couple of days between matches. That would serve me higher within the matchups in opposition to them.”
Djokovic broke Alcaraz’s serve within the second sport of the second set en path to a 3-0 lead. Alcaraz ripped off the subsequent three video games with ease they usually held serve all the way in which to a second-set tiebreaker, which Alcaraz received due to a 4-1 head begin.
Alcaraz broke Djokovic for a 3-1 lead within the third set, at which level the eventual end result was not in query.
–Discipline Degree Media
