NEW YORK
\nCarlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic motored into the quarter-finals of the US Open on Sunday as reigning women\u2019s champion Aryna Sabalenka kept her title defence firmly on track. Spanish second seed Alcaraz and tennis icon Djokovic \u2014 who are on course to meet in the semi-finals \u2014 both recorded straight-sets wins on the Arthur Ashe Stadium main court. Five-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz overpowered France\u2019s Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (7\/3), 6-3, 6-4 and has not dropped a set to date at the championships.
\n\u201cI think my style of tennis suits pretty well the energy here in New York,\u201d the 22-year-old said.\u201dThe energy is special playing the day session, playing the night session. It doesn\u2019t matter, people are always there. I love it and I think that\u2019s why I play my best tennis here,\u201d he added.Alcaraz will face Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals on Tuesday. Lehecka reached the last eight of a Grand Slam for only the second time after battling past veteran Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, winning 7-6 (7\/4), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
\nDjokovic, 38, continued his latest bid for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title with a brisk 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff.\u201dIt definitely helps if you serve well. I think I had a great serving performance last round and also tonight,\u201d said Djokovic. \u201cThat helps make it easier on the court. Djokovic faces a quarter-final on Tuesday against fourth seed Taylor Fritz, the lone American man left in the draw.
\nFritz sprinted into the last eight with a brisk 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 defeat of the Czech Republic\u2019s Tomas Machac in 1hr 38min.Fritz is carrying hopes of first US men\u2019s Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick in 2003 following the exits of fellow seeds Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe.
\nBut Fritz will head into his quarter-final against Djokovic with history stacked against him.
\nDjokovic has won all 10 of their past meetings, including a 2023 quarter-final win at the US Open.
\n\u201cI think the first, almost like seven or eight times I played him, I probably just wasn\u2019t a good enough player to really have that much of a chance,\u201d said Fritz. \u201cI think only the last couple times we\u2019ve played I think I\u2019ve been this just better player that can, you know, I\u2019d say compete and have chances.\u201d
\nIn the women\u2019s draw, Sabalenka never looked troubled in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Moldova-born Spaniard Cristina Bucsa, ranked 95th in the world. Sabalenka has now reached the quarter-finals or better at 12 straight Grand Slam tournaments, a consistency she attributes to striking a balance in her life on and off the court. \u201cI\u2019m super proud, I think that\u2019s an incredible achievement,\u201d Sabalenka said.
\n\u201cI think for me the key was balancing on and off-the-court life. I think I\u2019ve done a great job on balancing really hard work and also great recovery and some fun time outside of tennis court. I think that\u2019s been the key.\u201d Sabalenka faces a quarter-final against either ninth seed Elena Rybakina or the Czech Republic\u2019s Marketa Vondrousova, who were playing later Sunday.
\nIn other women\u2019s draw action on Sunday, the Czech Republic\u2019s unseeded former French Open and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova conjured a remarkable escape to oust Taylor Townsend, saving an incredible eight match points before digging out a 1-6, 7-6 (15\/13), 6-3 victory.
\nKrejcikova fought off a match point on her own serve at 5-4 down in the second set, and then somehow survived seven match points in an enthralling tie-breaker to move on. \u201cWhat a match,\u201d said Krejcikova, who revealed she had wondered if she would ever play tennis again after missing the opening months of the season with a back injury.
\n\u201cI was sidelined for six months and didn\u2019t know if I would ever play again. I\u2019m super happy I can be here.\u201dKrejcikova will face American fourth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals. Pegula, beaten in the final last year, advanced to the last eight after breezing past compatriot Ann Li 6-1, 6-2 on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic motored into the quarter-finals of the US Open on Sunday as reigning women\u2019s champion Aryna Sabalenka kept her title defence firmly on track. Spanish second seed Alcaraz and tennis icon Djokovic \u2014 who are on course to meet in the semi-finals \u2014 both recorded straight-sets wins on the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":86217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86226,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86205\/revisions\/86226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}