World number 2 Carlos Alcaraz beat Jiri Lehecka 6-4 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour and 56 minutes at the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New Yorl to reach the ninth Grand Slam semifinal of his career without dropping a serve.
Alcaraz will face either Novak Djokovic or last year’s finalist US Open finalist Taylor Fritz.
Akcaraz entered this match with a 2-1 lead in his head-to-head matches against Lehecka, who beat his Spanish rival in three sets in Doha last February.
Alcaraz dropped 14 points on his service games and did not face any break points. The Roland Garros champion hit 28 winners to 17 unforced errors and earned his first break in the opening game. He missed a break point in. the third game. He served for the first set and held serve at deuce.
Alcaraz held four service games and broke twice in the first and seventh games of the second set. He held serve at 15in the eighth game to close out the second set 6.2.
Alcaraz fended off a break point in the seventh game and earned a break point in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead and sealed the win with a hold at love in the 10th game.
Alcaraz’s match was highlighted by a back-to-net dop volley in a 21-shot rally in the second set.
Alcaraz will climb to world number 1 for the first time since September, if he can better Jannik Sinner’s result at the US Open.
“If I think about the No. 1 spot too much, I’m going to put pressure on myself, and I just don’t want to do that. I just want to step on court, try to do my things, follow my goals and try to enjoy as much as I can. The No. 1 spot is there, but I try to not think about it too much.”, said Alcaraz.
