Carlos Alcaraz on Monday surged into the quarter-finals of the US Open as upsets dominated the women’s draw, with Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula becoming the latest highly ranked players to crash out.
Defending champion Alcaraz, who has only dropped one set on his journey into the last eight, produced a dominant display to overwhelm Italian world No. 61 Matteo Arnaldi, winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour, 57 minutes.
Alcaraz was yesterday to face 12th seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals after the 2020 US Open finalist from Germany defeated Italian sixth seed Jannik Sinner in a five-set duel tinged with controversy.
Photo: AFP
Zverev, who is returning to his best form after a gruesome injury at the French Open last year that forced a six-month layoff, downed Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 4 hour, 41 minute battle, which wrapped at 1:39am, featured an ugly incident in the fourth set, when Zverev complained of a “Hitler phrase” being shouted from the stands as he prepared to serve.
“He just said the most famous Hitler phrase there is in this world,” Zverev told the umpire. “This is unbelievable.”
Photo: AFP
A male fan was subsequently identified as the alleged culprit and ejected from the arena before Zverev went on to seal victory.
Zverev later told reporters he had heard the fan singing “Deutschland uber alles,” the opening words of the Nazi-era anthem Das Lied der Deutschen.
“He was getting involved in the match for a long time and I don’t mind it. I love when fans are loud, I love when fans are emotional, but I think me being German, and not really proud of that history, it’s not really a great thing to do,” Zverev said. “And him sitting in one of the front rows, a lot of people heard it. If I just don’t react I think it’s bad from my side.”
The late-night US Open crowds on the 23,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium are famously boisterous, but have been criticized during this year’s tournament, with former Australian professional Rennae Stubbs saying shortly after the Zverev incident that there were fans at night sessions that were “not good.”
“I love the fans but at this point there are some bad characters,” Stubbs wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I had a drink thrown on me last night by a drunk fan who was fighting with her boyfriend. Now we got someone yelling Hitler slurs! Wtf? Come on peeps,” she wrote.
In other men’s matches on Monday, eighth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev advanced with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Britain’s Jack Draper.
Rublev next faces an all-Russian quarter-final against close friend Daniil Medvedev, who he has known since childhood and is godfather to Medvedev’s daughter.
In the women’s draw, more seeds bit the dust a day after world No. 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek was sent packing in the fourth round.
American third seed Pegula was routed in straight sets by compatriot and friend Madison Keys, while Tunisia’s fifth seed Jabeur was ousted 6-2, 6-4 by China’s Zheng Qinwen.
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