NEW YORK – Carlos Alcaraz shook the crowd with his fingers, hit Giri Lehecca netting, and made the semi-finals at the US Open.
The second seeded Spaniard beat Lehecca 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in Tuesday’s quarter-finals, making a shot of highlight reels before earing his hands and spurring more cheers from the Arthur Ashe Stadium fans. It is his first appearance in the majors since winning his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2023.
“I met Carlos’ Grand Slam version,” Lehecca said. “He certainly showed that he was one of the candidates. Everyone knew that, and he proved it.”
Alcaraz is only 22 years old and has competed in the semi-finals in his ninth major. In the open era, only Rafael Nadal and Boris Becker were 23 years old (10 each) more than they were (10 each).
Alcaraz is the only player on the boys’ side who has not yet dropped the set. He is the youngest man to reach the Final Four at the US Open since the 21-year-old Jim Courier in 1991 without surrendering the set.
After Alkaraz, either Taylor Fritz or Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz will be replaced by Janik Thinner, who lost in the Wimbledon Finals and lost in the French Open Finals.
“It’s really hard not to think about that,” Alcaraz said. “Every time I step onto the court, I try to avoid thinking about it. If I think I’m thinking too much about the number one spot, I’m going to put pressure on myself. I just don’t want to do that. I want to step into court, try to follow my goals in the match and have fun as much as possible.
Before facing Fritz or Djokovic on Friday night, Alcaraz is scheduled to play golf on Wednesday at 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia. He believes his fellow countrymen owes him several strokes.
“He has to give me at least 10-15 shots,” Alkaraz said. “That’s great. I’m not that good, Sergio, come on.”
His serving, on the other hand, was almost perfect. Alcaraz has earned serves in 68 of the tournament’s 69 service games, earning 34 consecutive holds. His dropped service game is the least in male open semi-finalists since Nadal, who did not drop a serve once towards the 2013 semi-finals.
Alcaraz has been on a relentless run since the start of the Rome Masters Tournament in May, earning 35 of the last 36 matches on the tour.
Lehecka had been bidding to become the first Czech to make a major semi-final since Tomas Berdych in 2017. He is guaranteed to debut in ATP’s Top 20 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
ESPN research and Associated Press contributed to this report.
