{"id":468509,"date":"2025-09-02T22:10:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T22:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=468509"},"modified":"2025-09-02T23:15:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T23:15:02","slug":"perfect-alcaraz-equals-nadal-record-in-us-hammering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=468509","title":{"rendered":"'Perfect' Alcaraz equals Nadal record in US hammering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> finger-wagged the crowd, beat Jiri Lehecka to the net and cruised into the semifinals at the US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The second-seeded Spaniard beat Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-finals, making some highlight-reel shots and putting his hand to his ear afterward to encourage more cheers from fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It's his first hard-court semi-final appearance at a major since winning his first grand slam title at the US Open in 2023.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz is just 22 years old and is in the semi-finals at a major for the ninth time. Only Rafael Nadal with 10 has more before turning 23.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Roosters need record deal to keep 'Marky Mark'<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'A bad look': Foran vents over rule that's 'gone too far'<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Disruptive' timing of Rankine return queried following apology<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Next up for Alcaraz is either Taylor Fritz or Novak Djokovic, who knocked him out of the Australian Open in the quarter-finals. Alcaraz would supplant Jannik Sinner \u2014 whom he lost to in the Wimbledon final and beat in the French Open final \u2014 atop the rankings if he wins the US Open for a second time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult not to think about it,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cEvery time that I step on the court, I am trying not to think about it. If I think about the No.1 spot too much, I think I\u2019m going to put pressure on myself and I just don\u2019t want to do that. I just want to step on the court, try to do my things, try to follow my goals in the match and try to enjoy as much as I can. The No. 1 is there, but I\u2019m trying not to think so much about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Quarter<\/p>\n

Before facing Fritz or Djokovic, Alcaraz plans to play golf Wednesday with 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia. He thinks his countryman owes him more than a few strokes.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheTennisLetter\/status\/1962964319194513673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe has to give me at least between 10 and 15 shots,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cIt's going to be great. I'm not that good, Sergio, come on.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the women's side, Jessica Pegula broke through her quarterfinal wall again at the US Open, defeating Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-3 to get to the semi-finals at a grand slam tournament for just the second time in her career.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2025 US Open<\/strong> live & on-demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/a>. Coverage of select matches free-to-air on Nine<\/strong> and streaming on 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

She failed to advance into the semis in her first 22 main draw appearances at a major before reaching the final at Flushing Meadows a year ago, when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest accomplishment last year was just getting past the quarterfinals,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cNow I can say I\u2019ve done it twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheTennisLetter\/status\/1962925764661440990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Pegula, who was eliminated in the fourth round at the Australian Open, the third round at the French Open and the first round at Wimbledon, is the first woman to make back-to-back US Open semi-finals without losing a set since Serena Williams from 2011-14.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to kind of go into those matches and really take care of business,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cI\u2019ve played good players but (gotten) convincing wins over those players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pegula, 31, is seeded fourth at the US Open and aiming for her first grand slam championship. She and No. 8 Amanda Anisimova are the only Americans left in the women's singles field.<\/p>\n

\"Quarter<\/p>\n

Krejcikova knocked out one of them, Taylor Townsend, who failed to convert eight match points when they met in the quarter-finals on Sunday. Pegula was not perfect, but she played well enough to stay in control at all times and broke Krejcikova one final time to end the match in under 90 minutes \u2014 on her first match point attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a couple really good returns when I was serving at 4-1," Pegula said. \u201cWe all saw what she did against Taylor, so I was happy that we\u2019re done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pegula will face\ufeff defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, who got back to the final four without hitting a ball when her opponent in the quarter-finals, Marketa Vondrousova, withdrew from their match with an injury.<\/p>\n

Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, pulled out of the tournament a couple of hours before she was supposed to face No.1-seeded Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

The clash with Pegula is a rematch of last year\u2019s championship match at Flushing Meadows, which Sabalenka won in straight sets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz finger-wagged the crowd, beat Jiri Lehecka to the net and cruised into the semifinals at the US Open. The second-seeded Spaniard beat Lehecka […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":468511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468509"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468509"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468512,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468509\/revisions\/468512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/468511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}