ATP Tour

Alcaraz completes his Grand Slam set vs. Paul, reaches US Open QFs

Carlos Alcaraz continues to lay down a comeback statement to his rivals at the US Open.

The No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings advanced to the quarter-finals at the hard-court major with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory against Tommy Paul on Sunday afternoon. Despite competing in his first tournament for four months following a wrist injury, Alcaraz has dropped just one set across his first four matches in New York, with his latest triumph against Paul an impressive dismantling of a No. 21-ranked home favourite.

Alcaraz now leads Paul 7-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series and has defeated the American at all four Grand Slam events: He is just the 10th man to defeat the same opponent at each of the majors in the Open Era.

“I played my game. I tried to play my style,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “Tommy is such a talented player. His shots are pretty dangerous and sometimes it is really difficult to control the ball when it comes to you. I just tried to be ready for a battle and tried to be aggressive all the time.

“I tried not to let him stay [high up] on the court and I think I did pretty well to put so much pressure on return games, which for me helped a lot to play relaxed, to play calm and think clearly. I’m really happy with the performance today.”

Alcaraz and Paul went toe to toe in the early stages of their clash inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, with neither man earning a break point across the opening nine games. Yet once the second seed and defending champion Alcaraz had broken to clinch the first set, he hardly looked back in a classy all-around display that suggested he has quickly shed any rust from his time away from competition.

The 23-year-old Spaniard broke Paul’s serve twice early in the second set and once more early in the third before completing a two-hour, 20-minute victory in which he fired 33 winners to his opponent’s 18.

“I think so,” Alcaraz laughed when asked if he felt back to full physical power. “I didn’t expect to reach [at least] the quarter-finals here every year since 2021, so that shows how special this place is to me. It shows how good I play every time I come here. It doesn’t matter that I was out for four and a half months: Every time that I come here I play my best.”

With his fourth-round win, Alcaraz extended his winning streak at the majors to 18 matches, a personal-best tally that includes his 2025 US Open win and his title run at January’s Australian Open, with which he became the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam. Now 26-3 for the 2026 season, Alcaraz will take on eighth seed Ben Shelton or Stefanos Tsitsipas for a spot in the last four.