NEW YORK :Second seed Carlos Alcaraz put on a show for the crowd with a convincing 7-6(3) 6-3 6-4 win over France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the U.S. Open fourth round on Sunday, in his latest demolition job on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Alcaraz gave fans a fright with a medical timeout due to knee pain in the third round but had no issues on Sunday, zipping around the court in the daytime match to extinguish his opponent’s hopes with 36 winners and just 11 unforced errors.
He will next play Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka.
“The energy is special playing the day session, playing the night session, it doesn’t matter,” said the five-times major winner. “That’s why I just play my best tennis here in New York.”
The 2022 champion got the crowd on his side with a behind-the-back shot in the fourth game and put his foot on the gas to pull away in the tiebreak with a pair of exquisite forehand winners and an unreturnable serve.
Alcaraz has yet to drop a set in New York this year and took the opener on Sunday as Rinderknech sent one beyond the baseline on set point.
The Spaniard sent another forehand winner down the line and placed a perfect drop shot before clinching the break with an overhead smash in the sixth game of the second set and saved both break points he faced in the seventh.
His nifty net play helped him break in the ninth game of the third set, before he closed it out with an unreturnable serve on match point.
Alcaraz has been on an extraordinary run this season, claiming an ATP-leading six titles with only six defeats.
His next opponent, the 21st-ranked Lehecka, is one of the rare few who have managed to crack the code this year, handing Alcaraz one of those six losses in the Doha quarter-final in February.
The Spaniard got his revenge only months later, beating Lehecka in the Queen’s Club final, but said he would not take the challenge for granted.
“I struggle every time that I played against him. There is no doubt about it. That means really how difficult it is to play against him,” he told reporters.
“I gotta see what I did good, what I did bad in those matches, just to be ready and to be perfect in the quarter-final.”
