An hour of real tennis, then nothing
The 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 scoreline is misleading. Both of the first two sets sat level at 3-3 before Carlos Alcaraz found another gear. The third barely happened: five straight games, and the whole thing done in 2h20.
Wu Yibing hung around on his serve, saving 8 of the 15 break points thrown at him. The rest of his sheet read less kindly, 12 winners against 39 unforced errors. The third-round run still matched the best Grand Slam result of his career, first set at Flushing Meadows in 2022.
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Seventeen consecutive Grand Slam wins, and four months off in the middle
That is the number worth holding onto. Alcaraz had not played a singles match since April, a wrist problem shutting him down. One set dropped across three matches since the return.
Nobody has defended this title since Roger Federer, who took five in a row from 2004 to 2008.
“There was a very high pace today,” Alcaraz said afterwards. “The way he plays is incredible, the pace he puts on every shot, forehand and backhand. His balls skid through the court a lot and it’s sometimes hard to control. But I stayed in it. I played aggressive, and I played smart in the toughest moments.”
Tommy Paul is the first seed he has met since coming back
The No. 20 seed arrives off a five-set grind with Alexander Bublik, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-3. Paul broke the Kazakh in the opening return game of each of the last two sets and then conceded a single break point the rest of the way.
The record between them is lopsided. Alcaraz leads 6-2 and has taken the last five, four of those at majors or the Olympics. Win it and Paul becomes the only active American man to have made the quarter-finals at all four Slams.
Daniil Medvedev came through without dropping a set either, past Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. The No. 7 seed won 85 percent of points behind his first serve, six double faults notwithstanding.
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