Second seed Carlos Alcaraz moved into his third US Open semifinal in four years with a commanding 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 20 Jiri Lehecka. The former world No. 1 reached the last four at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center without dropping a set in the tournament and now sits two wins from a second US Open title.

Alcaraz, who captured his first major at Flushing Meadows in 2022, has not added a hard-court major since, instead collecting two titles apiece at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. On Arthur Ashe Stadium the match lasted one hour, 56 minutes as the Spaniard maintained a brisk tempo and limited openings for Lehecka.

Lehecka had presented a difficult matchup earlier in the season, splitting two three-set encounters with Alcaraz and producing a surprise win in Doha at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in February. He later lost the revenge match on grass at Queen’s Club two months later. Alcaraz acknowledged the challenge his opponent presents. “I struggle every time that I played against him,” Alcaraz said after reaching the last eight on Sunday. “There is no doubt about it. That means really how difficult it’s play against him.”

Lehecka pointed to the demand for sustained focus against the top seed. “Against a player like Carlos you need to bring your best, and it means that it’s not only about playing one particular shot, because he knows how to react,” Lehecka said after reaching his second career Grand Slam quarterfinal. “That’s his big weapon. You know, that he knows how to react when someone is playing well, when someone is playing this or that.”

In the match Lehecka lost serve early in both the first and second sets, handing Alcaraz the initiative. The Czech produced a stronger start to the third, holding through six games and saving a break point in the seventh to lead 4-3. Two games later Alcaraz recovered from 30-0 to earn a break point and converted after turning defense into offense and drawing a wild forehand error. Serving for the match, Alcaraz won 12 of the final 14 points and closed with a forehand winner despite a few late rain drops.

Felix Auger-Aliassime has rediscovered Grand Slam momentum at the 2025 US Open, compiling four consecutive wins to reach the quarter-finals. That surge followed a run to the quarter-finals at the Cincinnati Masters in his final tournament before New York and a sequence of modest major results that saw him win just five matches across his previous five Grand Slam appearances.

The world No 27 opened in New York with straight-set victories over Billy Harris and Roman Safiullin. In the third round he defeated third seed Alexander Zverev in four sets, marking only his second career top-10 win at a major after beating the same opponent at Wimbledon in 2021. Auger-Aliassime then produced a decisive straight-sets victory over 15th-ranked Andrey Rublev in the fourth round to advance to his fourth major quarter-final and his first since the 2022 Australian Open.

Those results sit alongside long-standing public endorsements from John McEnroe, who has repeatedly predicted big things for the Canadian. In February 2023 McEnroe forecast a Grand Slam title for Auger-Aliassime within a short time frame. “I think he’s going to win a major in the next year, 18 months at the most,” the American was quoted as saying by TSN. “I think he’s made great progress.”

McEnroe offered an earlier, broader vote of confidence in February 2022, describing Auger-Aliassime as a likely future champion. “I like Felix a lot, the Canadian, Auger-Aliassime,” the former world No 1 told khaleejtimes.com at the Expo 2020 Tennis Week in Dubai in February 2022. “He seems the sort of the guy that I think was most likely to win from a bunch of them. I think there’s going to be a handful of guys that are going to do it.

“But right now, he’s making some incredible progress and showing a lot of people that to me, he’s going to be the guy in a few years.”

McEnroe had also expressed belief in both Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov ahead of Wimbledon in 2021: “I think both have made some great strides and progress… I think both of them are going to win majors at some stage in the not-too-distant future.”

Auger-Aliassime’s best major result remains his run to the 2021 US Open semi-finals, where he lost to eventual winner Daniil Medvedev. He has seven ATP Tour titles and reached a career-high ranking of world No 6 in November 2022.

The fourth-ranked American and the last U.S. player remaining in the women’s singles moved through to the US Open semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Barbora Krejcikova. The result marked her fifth win at this US Open and ended a stretch in which she had managed only two victories across four tournaments on her preferred surfaces.

Pegula has won all of her matches in straight sets since losing in the semifinals of mixed doubles. She opened the match aggressively, racing to a 3-0 lead as Krejcikova struggled with both her opponent and the conditions. The 2024 Wimbledon champion even paid homage to the nearby Mets with a swing and miss on an overhead.

Krejcikova settled enough to earn a break, but Pegula immediately took it back and continued to apply pressure with deep, flat groundstrokes. Pegula served out the first set at 5-3, then opened the second by breaking with a backhand return winner.

Before serving down 0-2, Krejcikova had landed just 37% of her first serves and won only 23% of her second-serve points (5 of 22). Krejcikova mounted one more push, reaching break point at 1-2 after two consecutive Pegula double faults. Pegula saved that chance with a short slice off a Krejcikova drop shot. An unreturned serve and another error by Krejcikova, who would finish with 22 unforced errors, put Pegula ahead 3-1.

Another Krejcikova mistake handed Pegula a further break for 4-1 and the match moved clearly in Pegula’s favor. She will face either top seed Aryna Sabalenka, last year’s conqueror in the final, or Marketa Vondrousova on Thursday night. Many doubted Pegula’s chances at the Open, perhaps for good reason, but her history suggested she deserved the benefit of the doubt.