NEW YORK (Reuters) – Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will face his toughest test yet at the U.S. Open when he battles Alexander Zverev in quarter-final action on Wednesday while Aryna Sabalenka will have to withstand the firepower of China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance.
Defending champion and top seed Alcaraz has dropped just one set through his first four matches in New York but may need to dig deeper to dispatch Zverev when they close out the evening session at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Zverev survived a five-hour slugfest against Italian sixth seed Jannik Sinner to reach the quarter-finals and enters the Alcaraz match with a 3-2 advantage over the 20-year-old Spaniard in their head-to-head meetings.
The other men’s quarter-final will be an all-Russian affair as third seed Daniil Medvedev faces good friend Andrey Rublev, who is godfather to the 2021 U.S. Open champion’s young daughter.
Medvedev, who beat Rublev in their most recent meeting at the Dubai final in March, has lost just two sets in New York and will be favourite against his eighth-seeded compatriot, who has won none of his eight previous Grand Slam quarter-finals.
Second seed Sabalenka, who will take over the women’s world number one ranking from Iga Swiatek next week, will also have her hands full against Zheng, the 23rd seed who upset Ons Jabeur in the previous round.
Australian Open champion Sabalenka is undefeated in her six Grand Slam quarter-finals but knows the 20-year-old Zheng will be swinging freely throughout the match in her bid to prolong what has been her breakout Grand Slam.
“For her, nothing to lose. She played great tennis against Ons,” said Sabalenka. “Anybody can beat anybody. … The trickiest part that she’s moving well, playing some heavy shots.
“I have to be physically and mentally ready.”
Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who is enjoying her best U.S. Open to date, will kick off the night session against a rejuvenated Madison Keys, who is bidding to become the first American woman to win the year’s final Grand Slam since Sloane Stephens beat her in the 2017 final.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
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