Alcaraz Matches Agassi Record, Seals US Open QF Spot

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz became just the second man in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach three US Open quarter-finals under the age of 21 on Monday when he moved past Italian Matteo Arnaldi.

The 20-year-old Spaniard dazzled the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd with his thrilling shotmaking, consistently drawing gasps to earn a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win in one hour and 59 minutes against the 22-year-old, who was competing in the fourth round at a major for the first time.

"The intensity from the start to the last ball, I think I played a really solid match," Alcaraz said. "Less mistakes. I played my game. Tried to go to the net all the time. I am really happy with the performance and I am happy to be through."

The top seed holds a 15-1 record at the US Open and joins two-time champion Andre Agassi as the second man to reach the last eight at least three times before turning 21. The American achieved the feat from 1988-1990.

Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud to lift his maiden major trophy at the hard-court event last year. Aiming to become the first player since Roger Federer in 2008 to successfully defend his crown, the Spaniard will next face Alexander Zverev, who battled past Jannik Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 later on Monday.

"Right now my favourite surface is hard court and when I won Wimbledon I said I fell in love with grass. I am really comfortable with the three surfaces, but right now hard courts is my favourite one," Alcaraz said when asked about his impressive US Open record.

Arnaldi was making his US Open debut this week and earned wins against Jason Kubler, Arthur Fils and Cameron Norrie to advance to the fourth round. The 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals competitor is up 14 spots to No. 47 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Alcaraz played with freedom throughout his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting against Arnaldi. The Spaniard combined guile with his trademark power to pull the Italian around, successfully using the drop shot-lob combination a number of times to improve to 20-3 on hard courts this year. Earlier in 2023, Alcaraz lifted the trophy at Wimbledon and triumphed at ATP Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Madrid.