Carlos Alcaraz Dominates Tommy Paul to Reach U.S. Open Quarter-Finals

NEW YORK – The question coming into this U.S. Open was simple: how would Carlos Alcaraz’s wrist hold up when the lights got bright again?

On Sunday night at Flushing Meadows, he answered it with a roar.

The 23-year-old swept into the quarter-finals with a ruthless 6-4 6-3 6-4 dismantling of American Tommy Paul, a high-voltage performance that stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 18 matches and restored his place as the man to beat in New York.

This is his first serious test since a wrist injury kept him out for nearly five months. For a while, even he wasn’t sure what to expect. He arrived in Queens speaking softly about his chances, framing the fortnight as a check-up more than a title defence.

Those doubts are gone now.

“After four really good matches, now I feel capable of winning the tournament,” Alcaraz told reporters, explaining that he came in with no expectations beyond seeing how his body – and especially that wrist – would react. The mindset, though, hasn’t shifted from what he calls his core belief: every time he walks on court is “a gift” and a chance to enjoy competing again.

That joy is spilling into his tennis. The footwork is back to its electric best. The forehand, once a concern, is whipping through the ball with full conviction. Against Paul, he dictated from the baseline, took time away at will and never allowed the home favourite to settle into the kind of extended rallies that might have tested his physical limits.

The scoreline looked routine. The message did not. This was a champion reasserting himself on a stage he knows intimately.

Alcaraz has now reached the U.S. Open quarter-finals five times in six appearances, a remarkable level of consistency for a player still in his early twenties. The seven-times Grand Slam champion is not just surviving the grind of another New York campaign; he is growing into it, round by round, looking more comfortable with every match.

There was another familiar twist to the story. Paul has become an unlikely marker on Alcaraz’s path to glory. All three of their previous Grand Slam meetings ended the same way – with the Spaniard lifting the trophy – at Wimbledon in 2024, Roland Garros in 2025 and this year’s Australian Open.

He knows the pattern. He refuses to lean on it.

“It makes you happy when you know those things, but it doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “I always say there is a first time for everything, so let’s try to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

The line was delivered with a smile, but the intent was serious. History can’t win him this title. His tennis has to.

What stands out most in this comeback run is how often he circles back to gratitude. He called it “still a gift” simply to be out there, to feel the noise of the crowd and the weight of another second-week match at the U.S. Open. Another quarter-final isn’t a formality in his mind; it’s a privilege he intends to squeeze dry.

Next up is a different kind of examination. Alcaraz will face either American shot-maker Ben Shelton, with his booming lefty serve and fearless aggression, or Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, a seasoned campaigner with the tools to drag him into long, tactical battles.