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Key events
Prelude
Hello and welcome to Arthur Ashe Stadium for tonight’s quarter-final between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. We have a nightcap gem to come as the top seed and defending US Open champion meets the runner-up from three years ago for a place in the last four against Daniil Medvedev, who beat Andrey Rublev in straight sets earlier today.
Alcaraz, 20, who won his first career Grand Slam title here last year, won 48 of his 52 service games (92%), saved 16 of 20 break points (80%) while converting 19 of 50 break points. chances (38%) during his journey to the round of 16. He has reached that stage or better in his three Flushing Meadows appearances, making him just the second man in the Open era to reach three US Open quarter-finals before turning 21. (Andre Agassi was the first.)
Zverev, the 26-year-old German, seeded 12th, is still gaining confidence in his ankle following an injury at Roland Garros last year which sidelined him for eight months, but realized a vintage performance in Monday’s five-set victory over the sixth. top-seeded Jannik Sinner, which ended at 1:40 a.m. Tuesday morning. He reached his first and only major final in New York three years ago, when he twice came close to the title against Dominic Thiem only to succumb in the final set tiebreaker. He is two wins away from a chance to reverse that greatest heartbreak, an opportunity that matters all the more after the choppy waters of last year.
Madison Keys is coming off a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the first match of tonight’s night session, which means Alcaraz and Zverev should be on the court for their warm-up in about 15 minutes.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Andrew Lawrence’s look at the blistering heat that has become a key storyline at this year’s US Open.
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theguardian