Carlos Alcaraz reaches US Open quarterfinal with late-night win against Marin Cilic
Carlos Alcaraz reached the third round of the U.S. Open for the second straight year, beating Marin Cilic at the third hour of his match with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win Friday night in Chicago.
Alcaraz will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a quarterfinal on Sunday with a first-round bye if he wins that match. Cilic won his previous two sets, one in a tie-breaker at the fourth hour and one in a fifth-set tie-breaker.
The final match was scheduled for two hours and was delayed by rain.
Before the match, Alcaraz, who has two Grand Slam singles wins and was runner-up to Novak Djokovic last year at Wimbledon, was told by Cilic he was not playing the top-ranked Swiss at the U.S. Open.
‘I never thought it would be that easy,’ Alcaraz said. ‘We had a lot of talk, a lot of time to prepare, but he was too difficult to prepare. I wanted to play him today, so he will be my second serve guy tomorrow, but I think I played well.’
After the delay, Cilic asked Alcaraz to help him with his serve.
‘I think I won my next two points; I started well on my second serve and I think I won my next two, which was a shock,’ said Alcaraz, who led 3-2 in the first set and 4-1 in the second. ‘That was a good way to end the match.’
His opponent in the quarterfinals, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a 7-0 former No. 1 who lost in the semifinals at Indian Wells, was 7-0 in his first two sets and 7-10 in his last four. His record against the No. 2 seed was 3-1.
In doing so, Tsonga