(Photo credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images)

Playing in his first tournament in four months following a wrist injury, No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz has shown no signs of rust at the U.S. Open, breezing into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 20 seed Tommy Paul on Sunday in New York.

Alcaraz, a seven-time Grand Slam winner and defending U.S. Open champion, has dropped just one set over his first four matches. The 23-year-old Spanish star and World No. 3 broke the 29-year-old American's serve to clinch the first set, broke him again twice early in the second set and once again early in the third en route to the two-hour, 20-minute victory.

Paul finished with one more ace (4-3) and one fewer double fault (2-1), but Alcaraz nearly doubled him in winners (33-18) and saved three of four break points, while Paul saved 10 of 14. The Spaniard also won 75% of his first-serve points (42 of 56).

Alcaraz leads the head-to-head series 7-2 and has defeated Paul at all four Grand Slam events, becoming only the 10th man to achieve that feat in the Open Era.

'I played my game. I tried to play my style,' Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. 'Tommy is such a talented player. His shots are pretty dangerous and sometimes it is really difficult to control the ball when it comes to you. I just tried to be ready for a battle and tried to be aggressive all the time.

'I tried not to let him stay (high up) on the court and I think I did pretty well to put so much pressure on return games, which for me helped a lot to play relaxed, to play calm and think clearly. I'm really happy with the performance today.'Alcaraz has won 18 straight matches at majors, a personal high that includes his 2025 U.S. Open win and January's Australian Open title, which made him the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.

Alcaraz, who is 26-3 this season, will face the winner of No. 8 seed Ben Shelton and unseeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who meet Sunday evening.

'I think so,' Alcaraz told reporters when asked if he felt he was back to 100% physically. 'I didn't expect to reach (at least) the quarterfinals here every year since 2021, so that shows how special this place is to me. It shows how good I play every time I come here. It doesn't matter that I was out for four and a half months: Every time that I come here, I play my best.'

--Field Level Media