Top seed Carlos Alcaraz has moved to within two wins of successfully defending his US Open title after winning a heavy-hitting quarter-final battle 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 with top-ranked German Alexander Zverev Wednesday night in New York.

Looking to claim the prized Wimbledon-US Open double in the same season, the 20-year-old will face 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev in Friday’s semi-finals, with a potential No. 1 vs. No. 2 final showdown with Novak Djokovic remaining a distinct possibility.

“I’m very, very comfortable playing in this court, playing here in New York. I am showing my best level here,” Alcaraz said.

“Last year was very tough, since the fourth round I played five sets [to get to the final]. Here I’ve played just one match that has gone to four sets. I feel great physically and I’m ready to play a great battle with Medvedev in the semi-finals.”

Although Zverev attempted to match Alcaraz’s power from the baseline, the Spaniard’s variety, speed and fresh legs gave him the edge over the German, who two days earlier toiled for four hours, 41 minutes to defeat Jannik Sinner in five sets, which marked just his second victory over a Top 10 player in Grand Slam play. In contrast, Alcaraz spent less than two hours on court in a straight-sets win over Matteo Arnaldi.

Alcaraz threw in a number of serve/volley plays, was an impressive 28 of 35 overall in net approaches and mixed in his usual quota of drop shots to keep his opponent off balance. He hit 29 winners to Zverev’s 22 and saved all five break points he faced while converting all four break chances on his opponent’s serve.

Zverev had a good night on first serve, putting 68 per cent of first serves into play and winning 73 per cent, but he won just seven of 25 points on his second serve.

Alcaraz improved to 24-1 in his past four Grand Slams played, going back to his title run at Flushing Meadows last year. (He missed this year’s Australian Open through injury.) Already a winner of six titles this year, Alcaraz improved to a Tour-best 58-6 match record on the season.

By reaching the quarter-finals Zverev has broken back into the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings for the first time since last November. The two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion has also risen to eighth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, inside the cut for this year’s season finale, to be held 12-19 November.

BEST 50-MATCH GRAND SLAM STARTS
(among World No. 1s)

* Plays 50th match on Friday
Note: Novak Djokovic 38-12, Roger Federer 34-16

Ben Shelton in his first full season on the ATP Tour has shown countless time he loves engaging with fans and harnessing their energy on the court. When at his best, he holds the crowd in the palm of his hand and not only competes, but entertains.

According to his father and coach, former World No. 55 Bryan Shelton, a key has been learning how to identify when to flip on his intensity.

“We always talk about switching it on and switching it off, and the ability to do those two things is really important. You think about Tiger Woods and he makes this amazing shot and then he kind of just glides down the fairway. He switches off until he has to get to the ball and assess the situation and then he switches back on and gets into his routine,” Shelton said. “For Ben, it’s like he’s so playful and he has all this personality, that he’s pretty good at switching on and switching off. It’s getting better and better.

“He’s able to relax and just be himself, and then when it’s time to really focus and turn it on, he’s able to do that a lot better right now.”

Even in pressure moments, Shelton has shown the ability to find the right mix. After two devastating double faults in the third-set tie-break of his quarter-final against Frances Tiafoe, the 20-year-old maintained his aggression and crushed a forehand return winner to avoid going down two sets to one.

“With Ben and his personality and just the way that he attacks life and tennis and everything, it’s always been about trying to rein him in, never about trying to get him to play outside,” Shelton said. “For me, it’s kind of the opposite. And I’d always prefer that it be this way, because it’s hard to get someone to want to step up when they’re naturally timid or shy or just not aggressive. For us, that’s never been a problem, not with Ben.”

After Shelton reached the Australian Open quarter-finals at the beginning of the season, he did not win consecutive tour-level matches until this fortnight in New York. But where he struggled to string together wins, Shelton added something else.

“I think experience. Experience can be a wonderful thing, right?” Shelton said. “He’s gained a lot of great experience. He’s had to play on clay courts for a couple of months at a time, and so he’s learned a little bit more patience. He’s learned a little bit more about how to play defence. He’s learned his offence has to be really good on that type of surface in order to execute against the best players in the world.

“So he’s been able to work on those things. He’s understood that his return of serve wasn’t up to par. It’s a part of his game that he’s going to have to continue to improve and he’s worked really hard on that aspect of his game.”

For the Shelton family, it is not all about wins and losses, either. Before departing for his first trip of the season the former college tennis star at the University of Florida had never left the country, nor had he competed on red clay or grass. It has been a year of new experiences.

“Ben’s mom and I, [we are] super proud that he’s just handling himself so well. First off the court and then on the court. Our hope for him was that he would just continue to grow as a person and as a player out here on the Tour over the last year, and I think he’s done that,” Shelton said. “You learn a lot about yourself through the losses, probably more than the wins. So this season for him has been just a great learning experience. Travelling around the globe and going to places and playing on surfaces and just doing things he’s never done before.

“So for him, the education has been unbelievable. Along the way he’s been taking classes. So we’re proud of that, too.”

No matter what happens when Shelton walks onto the court inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday against 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic, he knows there will be plenty to learn and room to grow.

“I think he’s got amazing examples over this last 20-year stretch with Roger and Rafa and Novak, of guys that continually look to get better,” Shelton said. “So if those guys can look to get better every single day and they’re the standard of excellence at the very top of the game for a long period of time, like you’re talking about, that’s a good example for him to follow.”

Advancing to a major semi-final is great. Facing Novak Djokovic when you get there, however, is not ideal.

Of all Djokovic’s accomplishments in recent years, one of the most unfathomable might be his record in the semi-finals of Grand Slam tournaments. That is bad news for his next opponent, Ben Shelton.

Djokovic has won 21 of his past 22 major semi-finals dating back to the 2015 Australian Open. His only loss during that stretch came in 2019 at Roland Garros, where Dominic Thiem needed five sets over four hours and 13 minutes to eliminate the Serbian.

Nine of the players Djokovic has defeated in major semi-finals have been inside the Top 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Ten of his victories during the stretch have come in straight sets.

By defeating Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals, he advanced to a record 47th major semi-final. In his previous 46 appearances this deep at a Grand Slam event, Djokovic has tallied a 35-11 record (76.1%).

Most Major SFs

^{*Plays record 47th major semi-final Friday}
According to Infosys ATP Stats, only 12 players on record have a 76 per cent or better winning percentage that high in all matches, let alone major quarter-finals. Of Djokovic’s 11 losses, eight have come against Roger Federer (4) or Rafael Nadal (4).

His opponent on Friday, Shelton, has one of the biggest serves on the ATP Tour. But pushing sets to tie-breaks at this stage of a Slam has statistically not worked out for Djokovic’s opponents over the past decade.

The 36-year-old has not lost a tie-break in a major semi-final since the 2014 US Open, where he lost to Kei Nishikori. In the seven tie-breaks Djokovic has played in major semi-finals since, he has lost a combined 24 points, or just more than three points per tie-break. That includes nine points he lost in a single tie-break against Nadal at Wimbledon in 2018.

Djokovic has lost just twice in the last four of Grand Slam events against first-time major semi-finalists — his defeat to Nishikori at Flushing Meadows nine years ago and the 2010 Wimbledon semi-finals to Tomas Berdych.

Not setting foot on court to train on a rest day at a Grand Slam might seem unwise, but it is one of the routines that works best for Carlos Alcaraz, and one of the keys to many of his triumphs.

The Spaniard will play on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the US Open against Alexander Zverev without having practised on Tuesday. He used the same routine before playing his fourth-round clash with Matteo Arnaldi, and it is one he has employed at many events throughout his career.

“There are days when I dedicate my time to fitness and not tennis,” explained the Spaniard, who has a 15-1 record in the season’s final Grand Slam, where he is defending the title he claimed in 2022, his first major and the key that opened the door for him to become the youngest No. 1 ever in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. “There are a lot of days when I prefer to work on load training and fitness, rather than practise tennis.”

Not practising on a rest day at a tournament is not something Alcaraz is trying for the first time at this US Open, far from it. Last year, at Flushing Meadows, the Spaniard chose not to pick up his racquet the day between matches. It was a roadmap that allowed him to come through the demands of three consecutive five-set matches unscathed; the fourth round against Marin Cilic, the quarter-finals against Jannik Sinner and the semi-finals against Frances Tiafoe. This year, at Roland Garros, he did not practise a single time between matches, nor did he at Wimbledon as the final rounds approached (before his semi-final and final).

“Mentally, getting tired of winning, of travelling to play tennis, I’m not worried about that because I know it won’t happen to me. What really worries me, so to speak, or what might be a concern for me in the future, is injuries,” explained Alcaraz, all too aware of what he has to do to stay fit in the face of the demands of playing at the very top of the game.

“I haven’t been training on the days I haven’t played and it’s worked well,” he said a few months back in Paris, during Roland Garros. “I’m doing things very well and I feel good. Mentally, I’m fresh. Why change things if it’s working?”

It is certainly unusual; most players will practise tirelessly on their days off in a bid to fine-tune their games and not lose their touch. But Alcaraz has proven that it is possible to aspire to everything by taking a day off when he has no matches, because sometimes resting is also training. This is the message drilled into him by Juan Carlos Ferrero, his coach, and Juanjo Moreno, his physio and the man responsible for looking after Alcaraz’s body.

Not practising at Flushing Meadows does not mean having a free day, of course. As well as working in the gym at his hotel, and receiving treatment on the recovery stretcher, Alcaraz takes the opportunity to spend time with his family and team in New York. For example, on Sunday he took the chance to wander the streets of Brooklyn, while on other days he has visited Central Park to have some contact with nature and get away from the hubbub of Manhattan.

Alcaraz needed eight hours and 36 minutes of tennis to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open, dropping just one set along the way to Daniel Evans. He trails Zverev, his next opponent, 2-3 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head.

Andrey Rublev will face a monumental challenge on Wednesday when he takes to the court to do battle with Daniil Medvedev in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings has never progressed past the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam, despite having reached the round eight times in his career prior to Wednesday.

“Of course, he hasn’t got past it, but it’s much worse to lose in the last 16 and not have that opportunity again,” Fernando Vicente, Rublev’s coach, told ATPTour.com. “We see it as a positive, not a negative. We see it as another opportunity to try and do it. If it doesn’t happen, we will have to keep trying and keep working.”

He has set foot in the quarters in all of the Grand Slams: at the Australian Open (2021, 2023), Roland Garros (2020, 2022), Wimbledon (2023) and the US Open (2017, 2020, 2022, 2023).

In those matches, in search of a debut major semi-final, Rublev has faced Medvedev three times (including this Wednesday), Novak Djokovic twice and Rafael Nadal once, as well as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Frances Tiafoe and Marin Cilic. However, he has never been able to celebrate and progress to the semi-finals.

“The vast majority of times, six at least, he wasn’t ready, physically or mentally,” said Vicente. “The Cilic one at Roland Garros was a clear opportunity and he should have won, but he lost it in five sets and wasn’t able to manage the mental side of it. Now he is ready, both physically and mentally, but it will be a tricky game; they’re friends and it’s difficult for them to play each other.”

Rublev reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the age of 17. This time around, he is 25, and he has plenty more experience and maturity. So far, the World No. 8 has won 14 tour-level titles, including the biggest of his career this year at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

Now, before another big match, there is no doubt what his mentality and approach to this new challenge will be: it is positive to be back in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.

“I don’t see it as negative, it’s positive being in the quarters,” commented Vicente. “If he doesn’t win, we’ll have to try again a 10th time, an 11th… a 22nd. We are delighted to be in the quarters of a Grand Slam again.”

Medvedev leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head 5-2, but Rublev has already taken down his friend on the big stage; last year in the group stage of the Nitto ATP Finals.