We bring you a preview of the selected Quarter-final and Semi-final Matches of the US Open.
Quarterfinal: 7th September – Carlos Alcaraz 21/100 | Alex Zverev 33/10
20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz’s victory over Matteo Arnaldi made him the 2nd man in the Open Era to reach three US Open quarterfinals before the age of 21.
Alcaraz has only dropped one set in the tournament and has only spent about 11 hours on court total. He has now reached the quarterfinals in five of his last six Slams, with an impressive 20-3 hardcourt record this year. He is positively bursting with confidence and it’s hard to conceive of him losing a tennis match.
Tennis action! (Pic – EPA/Will Oliver)
Alex Zverev has an undeniable tenacity to get back to the top of the game. That Achilles tendon rupture at last year’s French Open was one of the most sickening on-court injuries most have seen in some time.
But the German is now into his 10th career quarterfinal after a herculean effort against red-hot Jannik Sinner. He won 70% of his first-serve points in a match that lasted well over four hours. He even had to mentally regroup after a fan was ejected following some Hitler-related jibe- you have got to love the US Open.
Verdict: Alcaraz to win in three sets at 1/1
Zverev actually leads the head-to-head 3-2. Having said that, all of those German victories came prior to Alcaraz’s ascent to the top of the tennis world. The Spaniard comfortably dealt with Zverev at this year’s Madrid Open and he is going to be far the fresher player. It is unlikely that we will see Zverev rebounding from that Sinner epic to challenge Alcaraz.
Semi-final- 8th September: Novak Djokovic 1/20 | Ben Shelton 8/1
The remarkable ironman Novak Djokovic was absolutely sublime in sweltering conditions against American darling Taylor Fritz, winning in straight-sets in just under three hours.
The result also took his stunning US Open quarterfinal record to 13-0. The reigning Aussie and French Open champ, Djokovic recently regained the World No.1 ranking from wunderkind Carlos Alcaraz.
Ben Shelton’s victory over Frances Tiafoe makes this one of the most mismatched semi-finals in recent Grand Slam memory, this is stated without taking anything away from the huge serving American’s performance thus far.
The youngest ever male US Open semi-finalist, Ben Shelton has been a breath of fresh air this year. When he isn’t serving aces, he is hitting unbelievably powerful groundstrokes. I was impressed with the way his backhand held firm against the Tiafoe forehand.
Verdict: Djokovic to win in four sets – 33/1
This will be the first career meeting between these two. Djokovic is expected to win this match. That being said, there might be some value in going for a Djokovic four-set win. Djokovic could come out the blocks slowly while Shelton’s serve is obviously a X factor.
