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Opinion
Carlos Alcaraz’s chances of claiming his maiden grand slam title and becoming the youngest men’s world No. 1 in history remain alive after he won yet another five-set thriller that once again ended after 2am local time.
Just 48 hours after he outlasted 2014 champion Marin Cilic to ensure that a brand-new men’s major champion is guaranteed, the 19-year-old Spaniard produced an equally epic five-set win over Jannik Sinner, having had to draw on his grit and energy to do so.
The El Palmar native won the opening set 6-3, but Sinner, the elder of the pair by two years, claimed the following two sets in tiebreaks, including the second of them 7-0, and appeared set for victory when he held a match point on his serve in the tenth game of the fourth set.
However, the 19-year-old would break right back, claiming the final three games of it to force a deciding set. With the clock having ticked past 2am, the thousands of fans that had packed Arthur Ashe Stadium were struggling to stay awake after yet another marathon night of tennis.
Sinner appeared to get the upper hand when he broke early in the last, but Alcaraz would break back for three-all and from there would rattle off the final three games to complete his second consecutive five-set victory in the early hours of the morning.
With the match finishing at 2:50am, it set the record for the latest ever finish to a match at the US Open, eclipsing three previous 2:26am finishes, one of which saw Kei Nishikori beat Milos Raonic in a five-set epic en route to reaching the final eight years ago.
The match clocked in at five hours and 15 minutes, which was 11 minutes short of the longest match at the tournament, which remains Stefan Edberg’s semi-final victory over Michael Chang in 1992.
Alcaraz has become the youngest man to reach a major semi-final since Rafael Nadal got this far on his French Open debut in 2005, where he defeated then-world No. 1 Roger Federer on his 19th birthday to reach his first major final.
He is also the youngest man to reach the final four at Flushing Meadows since Pete Sampras in 1990. In a good omen for the 19-year-old Spaniard, both Sampras and Nadal went on to win their first major titles at those respective tournaments.
Many billed the Alcaraz-Sinner match as the perfect advertisement for men’s tennis, especially with the game’s elder statesmen – namely Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – nearing the end of their illustrious careers.
There were even shades of the 2001 quarter-final match between Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick – at which point they were 20 and 19 years old respectively – which also went to five sets, though it ended much earlier, even if it was some 45 minutes after midnight.
Hewitt of course went on to win the first of his two major titles by thrashing Sampras in the final, while Roddick had to wait two years before saluting, doing so at the expense of Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero – who, coincidentally, is currently Alcaraz’s coach.
If he wins the title, Alcaraz will become the youngest men’s world No. 1 in history, beating the record set by Hewitt, who was 20 years and nine months when he first ascended to the top in November 2001.
The Alcaraz is currently 19 years and four months old, meaning he would beat Hewitt’s record by 17 months.
Before that, though, the Spaniard will face another tough test of his major credentials, and the possibility of a crowd against him, when he comes up against the last remaining American in either singles draw, Frances Tiafoe, on Saturday morning (AEST).
Twelve months after outlasting Andrey Rublev in five sets in the third round, the American, who conquered Rafael Nadal in his previous match, repeated the dose on the Russian, winning in straight sets to reach the final four of a major for the first time.
Tiafoe has now become the first local man to reach the semi-finals in the Big Apple since Andy Roddick in 2006, and he now has the hopes of a nation on his shoulders as he bids to become the first American man to win a major since Roddick in 2003.
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
The other men’s semi-final will be contested between Karen Khachanov and Casper Ruud, with both men seeking to reach their first US Open final, and in Ruud’s case his second major final this year after going down to Nadal at the French Open in June.
If the men’s championship final ends up being contested by both Ruud and Alcaraz, then whichever player wins will assume the world No. 1 ranking. If only one of them advances, then that player will ascend to the top regardless of their result in the final.
If neither player advances to the final, then Rafael Nadal, despite his fourth-round loss to Tiafoe, will return to the top of the rankings when they are updated on Monday.
On the women’s side of things, world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, put an end to local hopes by defeating eighth seed Jessica Pegula in straight sets to set up a semi-final clash against sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated 22nd seed Karolina Pliskova also in straights.
For Pegula, it was her third defeat in a major quarter-final this year after losing to eventual champions Ashleigh Barty and Swiatek at the Australian and French Opens respectively.
Both women’s semi-finals will be played this morning (AEST), with fifth seed Ons Jabeur first up against French veteran Caroline Garcia, followed by the Swiatek-Sabalenka match. All four women are bidding to reach their first final at Flushing Meadows.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Night session: from 9:00am (AEST)
[17] Caroline Garcia (FRA) vs [5] Ons Jabeur (TUN)
[1] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs [6] Aryna Sabalenka
Both men’s semi-finals will be played on Saturday morning (AEST) with starting times still to be decided.
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