New York (AFP) – Carlos Alcaraz surged into the fourth round of the US Open on Friday as Novak Djokovic and defending women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka aimed to keep their title bids on track. Spanish second seed Alcaraz breezed past Italian 32nd seed Luciano Darderi in emphatic fashion, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 on the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Alcaraz’s one hour 44-minute victory sends the 2022 US Open champion into a meeting on Sunday against France’s Arthur Rinderknech, who defeated compatriot Benjamin Bonzi 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
Alcaraz is aiming to finish the season on a high after winning the French Open in June before losing in the final of Wimbledon last month. The five-time Grand Slam singles champion opened Friday’s play on the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s main court and admitted he had been nervous about his early 11.30am local time start. “I’m not an early morning person so it’s difficult for me to wake up in the morning,” Alcaraz said. “One of the good things today though I woke up early, did the warm-up, and felt good. Starting at 11:30 my first goal is to start well with a good energy and rhythm. I played great tennis, good performance so I’m proud of that.”
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Alcaraz needed a medical timeout while leading 5-4 in the second set for treatment on his right knee, but later said he had no injury concerns. “I just asked the physio to have a look at it because I wanted to be feeling good physically for that last set,” he said. “I’m not worried about it.”
Later Friday, the 38-year-old Djokovic will aim to move closer to a possible semi-final showdown with Alcaraz when he takes on Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the evening session. The seventh-seeded Serbian legend is chasing a record 25th Grand Slam singles title in New York, where he has won four times before. Other men’s seeds in action on Friday include sixth seed Ben Shelton, who faces France’s Adrian Mannarino, and American 17th seed Frances Tiafoe, who takes on Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff. In another early game, Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka sailed into the next round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Belgium’s Raphael Collignon.
In the women’s draw meanwhile, world number one Sabalenka faces Canada’s 31st seed Leylah Fernandez in a night game on the Louis Armstrong Stadium. Sabalenka is aiming to become the first woman to successfully defend the US Open since Serena Williams won a hat-trick of titles in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Fernandez reached the final of the US Open in 2021, where she was beaten by Britain’s Emma Raducanu — the only player in history ever to win a Grand Slam singles title after emerging through qualifying.
Raducanu’s hopes of another fairytale run in New York came to a juddering halt on Friday when she was steamrollered in straight sets by Kazakh ninth seed Elena Rybakina, losing 6-1, 6-2. “I thought Elena played very well, and I found it very difficult to get any sort of rhythm in the match,” Raducanu said of Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion. “When these top players are playing really well, it’s difficult,” she added. “The ball just comes through really, really fast, and you feel like you just don’t really have any time, you know, to create anything, so it’s just constant pressure.”
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