By Steve Keating
NEW YORK (Reuters) – On the American Labour Day holiday, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz wasted little time in blowing past Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3 6-3 6-4 to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals on Monday.
Through the first week of the season’s final Grand Slam, the world number one has been putting in routine shifts and has dropped only one set en route to the last eight.
But the second week is the business end of a Grand Slam when the draw has thinned and serious contenders surfaced.
In Alcaraz’s rear view mirror are relative unknowns, like Arnaldi and Dominik Koepfer, but ahead of him lurk familiar danger men such as Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev.
Alcaraz has not shown his best yet on the New York hardcourts but like a hot Wall Street stock is trending in the right direction.
There have been a few hiccups and lapses but the 20-year-old’s raw talent, power and a repertoire of weapons make him the man to beat and on track for another showdown with arch rival Novak Djokovic.
Under a closed roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Alcaraz was solid from start against a man who was playing in the Flushing Meadows main draw for the first time.
It took a few games for Alcaraz to size up his opponent but once the Spaniard did, it was pretty much one way traffic.
Alcaraz took charge with a break for a 4-2 lead in the first set and then broke again at the start of the second to find himself 2-0 up.
The feisty Italian would have his moment in the third set, breaking Alcaraz at 2-1 but the Spaniard would immediately break back and then again to seal victory.
He will next face either Italian sixth seed Sinner or 12th seeded German Alexander Zverev.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
