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.

Jannik Sinner produced a ruthless performance to dispatch world No 24 Alexander Bublik at the 2025 US Open, advancing to the quarter-finals in emphatic fashion.

Bublik had reached the fourth round after triumphs over Marin Cilic, Tristan Schoolkate and Tommy Paul without losing serve once, but Sinner broke him in eight of his 11 service games. Sinner saved the single break point his 28-year-old Kazakh opponent had on his serve.

By reaching the last eight, Sinner became the youngest man to reach the quarter-finals at all four Grand Slam tournaments in consecutive seasons, breaking Novak Djokovic’s mark. The current world No 1 achieved the feat at the age of 24 years and eight days, while Djokovic was 24 years and 99 days when he accomplished it at the 2011 US Open.

The victory added another statistical flourish to Sinner’s second-week dominance: he became the first man since Djokovic to drop three or fewer games in a second-week match at the US Open since the Serb dismantled Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 in the 2015 semi-finals.

Sinner’s recent major run is striking. He has won four of the last seven Grand Slams, beginning with his maiden major at the 2024 Australian Open. He added the 2024 US Open crown, defended his Australian Open title in January and won his maiden Wimbledon title last month. During this stretch he was also runner-up at the 2025 French Open, a semi-finalist at the 2024 French Open and a quarter-finalist at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.

In the quarter-finals Sinner will face his Italian countryman and world No 10 Lorenzo Musetti. He spoke about the matchup at his press conference after beating Bublik:

“Yeah, I mean, pressure is there. Pressure has always been there. So it’s going to be very interesting to see,” Sinner said.

“Obviously, derbies are a bit different, you know, when you play the same, or from me being Italian, playing against another Italian, they are always a bit different, you know, matches.

“But in the same time, you know, he’s an amazing player, very, very talented. He is playing some great tennis. He has struggled a bit, you know, during the season, but now he finds himself in an amazing form and shape.

“And, yeah, you know, the pressure is on me, you know, but in the same time is, you know, most of the times the pressure is a little bit more on me than on the opponent.

“So let’s see what’s coming. I like these challenges. It’s great for an Italian point of view to have, for sure an Italian playing the semis of a Grand Slam. And now these things seem normal, but they’re not normal. You know, it’s very difficult to get to these stages quarters there. The occasion is getting bigger, you know, the attention is getting bigger, the matches are bigger.

“So everything changes now on, you know, so let’s see. But I’m looking forward to it, you know, it’s a great challenge and I’m looking forward to it.”