(September 4, 2026) FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – The defending US Open champion has now won 17 straight matches at majors.
Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 win over Wu Yibing in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The US Open is his first tournament back since April.
The Spaniard is now 27-3 in Flushing Meadows (.900), the highest win percentage in the Open Era ahead of Pete Sampras (.888), Roger Federer (.864), and Novak Djokovic (.856).
“I’m better than I thought, physically,” Alcaraz said. “I thought I was going to be dead after the first match. But I’m recovering very well. Right now, my level is very good. I get the rhythm of the competition every time I step on the court.”
“Well, you know, obviously after four months without competing, without any matches, you know, when you go out there and compete and play an official match with the nerves and everything, so after the match, the day after or right after, you could feel, like, really tight. Your body can feel really tight.
“It didn’t happen to me, so I could, you know, feeling better and better after every match. It feels like, you know, I been competing the whole time. So it surprise myself the way that I’m feeling and the way that I’m recovering after every match.
“So I’m just really happy about it that I’m able to perform at my best after every match. Doesn’t matter if I’m playing four or three sets.
“So I’m just really happy about it. You know, because my expectation coming here was about, Okay, let’s see how it’s gonna be. So I wasn’t sure at all. Just happy with the things or I’m happy with everything that is going right now.”
Next up for Alcaraz is Tommy Paul the 20th seed.
“Well, he’s a really talented player, really difficult one to play,” noted the 23-year-old. “I think he’s really dangerous for everyone on the tour. The way he plays, the way he hits the ball, it’s really complicated to dominate the ball, dominate the points. His ball is (indiscernible) a lot. It’s kind of difficult to play against him.
“I’m excited. I’m really looking forward to playing him once again. Great battles. He’s such a nice guy. We just feel like we having fun, we pull off great points, great shots. It’s going to be really fun to watch, fun to play, as well.
“I will be ready, for sure, and I gotta be at my 100% if I want to get through.”
“I think I played Carlos, I’m not sure about this, but I think I played him more than anybody on tour, for me, which is kind of crazy,” Paul said jokingly. “We’ve had some good matches, one really, really bad beat-down at French Open.
“But, I mean, he’s the test, him and Sinner. They have been playing great, and I guess Carlos we haven’t really seen too much, but obviously doing pretty well coming right back to competition.
“I mean, I’m going to have to play some pretty good tennis if I want to win that match, but I’m going to do my best. Hopefully I can.”
Paul won a five-set, three-hour-plus marathon over 15th seed Alexander Bublik.
