Carlos Alcaraz has advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open after defeating No. 20-seeded American Tommy Paul with a score of 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the Round of 16 on Sunday afternoon. This victory comes after Alcaraz's recent recovery from a wrist injury, marking his first significant competition since a lengthy layoff. The match lasted less than 2 ½ hours.
Paul acknowledged Alcaraz's superior performance, stating, "He was playing on a different level than me. I think there are a lot of things I could have done better, but I could have done a lot of things better and still lost that match."
Alcaraz will next face the winner of the match between Ben Shelton and Stefanos Tsitsipas, which took place later on Sunday. This was only the third time Paul reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open, having previously won all three of his earlier matches in four sets or more, including a five-set victory over No. 15-seeded Alexander Bublik in Round 3.
Alcaraz has dropped just one set since returning to the tour and displayed strong performance throughout the match against Paul. He expressed satisfaction with his current level of play, noting, "Beating Tommy Paul is always great feedback to see where you are, and just really happy about everything I’ve done today. I think I returned pretty well. I saw really, really well the game today, what I had to do in every moment."
In the match, Alcaraz won 93 percent of his service games, losing only one, and dominated from the baseline, winning 76 percent of deep returns against Paul. Paul commented on Alcaraz's effective return strategy, highlighting his ability to pressure and control the match flow.