New York, Sep 3 Carlos Alcaraz dominated Jiri Lehecka in the US Open quarterfinals with a one-hour, 56-minute match to stay in contention for his first hard-court major title since 2022.
The 22-year-old Spaniard hustled for a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory to reach the semi-finals in New York without dropping a set.
With a Tour-leading 59 wins and six titles in 2025, according to the ATP Win/Loss Index, Alcaraz looks in good stead to better his career-best tally of 65 wins and six trophies from 2023.
Into the last four at a hard-court major for the first time since the US Open in 2023, Alcaraz awaits four-time champion Novak Djokovic or last year’s finalist Taylor Fritz.
With the No. 1 spot in the PIF ATP Rankings also up for grabs this week, Alcaraz ramped up the pressure on fierce rival Jannik Sinner. If he can match or better the defending champion’s result in New York, he will climb to World No. 1 for the first time since September 2023.
“If I think about the No. 1 spot too much, I’m going to put pressure on myself, and I just don’t want to do that. I just want to step on court, try to do my things, follow my goals and try to enjoy as much as I can. The No. 1 [spot] is there, but I try to not think about it too much," Alcaraz said.
Lehecka, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 21 just before the tournament began, will be solidly inside the Top 20 when the new rankings are released, following his strong performance at the US Open.
"Today I kind of met the Grand Slam version of Carlos. That's the way how I would like to think about it, because yeah, it's been difficult match.
"Carlos, he just showed that he is one of the contenders for sure. Everyone knew that, and he proved that today as well, and the match was—I don't really think that it was bad performance from my side. I felt quite okay, but I think that the most important things which he needed to do, he did better than me," Lehecka said in his post-match press conference.
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