Carlos Alcaraz Dominates Wu Yibing in US Open Match
Carlos Alcaraz barely broke stride.
Under the lights of Flushing Meadows, the defending US Open champion brushed aside Wu Yibing 6-3 6-4 6-1, a clean, ruthless performance that looked far more like the work of a man in full flow than one still feeling his way back from a long lay-off.
This was only his third singles match in 139 days. It didn’t look like it.
Champion starting to purr
Alcaraz arrived in New York with questions hanging over his right wrist and his rhythm. His first-round win offered reassurance. His second-round escape, when he had to claw back from a set down against Jaime Faria, hinted at rust as much as resilience.
Against Wu, the doubts eased.
The 23-year-old tightened his game, cut out the lapses and steadily squeezed the life out of the contest. The first set went in 40 minutes, the second in 45, and by the time the third rolled around, Wu was clinging on to rallies that increasingly ended with Alcaraz dictating from every part of the baseline.
He needed two hours and 20 minutes, but the gap in class and conviction felt wider.
“To be honest, I'm better than I thought,” Alcaraz admitted afterwards, a telling line from a player who came to New York unsure how his body would react to best-of-five again.
“Physically I thought I was going to be bad after the first match, but I am recovering really well. I am doing great things off the court to be in a good state.
“Right now, I think my level is really good. I think I have caught the rhythm of the competition.
“Every time that I step on the court I give it all. I'm just trying to improve, be better every match and I think I'm getting there.”
On this evidence, he is.
Wrist questions fading, confidence rising
The most striking part of Alcaraz’s night was not just the scoreline but the way he finished. The forehand, once again, came through the ball with conviction. The backhand held up under pressure. He chased down dropshots, changed direction with ease, and looked increasingly like the player who has made chaos his trademark on hard courts.
Wu, a clean striker and no stranger to big stages, never really got a foothold. When he did find a short period of control, Alcaraz shut it down with aggressive returning and deep, heavy patterns that forced the Chinese player to defend from far behind the baseline.
This was not Alcaraz at his explosive peak, but it was controlled, measured and professional. For an opponent in the early rounds, that combination is usually more than enough.
A familiar face in the fourth round
Next comes a man who knows this problem all too well: Tommy Paul.
The American 20th seed stands between Alcaraz and the quarter-finals, but history is brutally one-sided. Alcaraz has beaten Paul six times in a row. The matchup has repeatedly tilted towards the Spaniard’s ability to absorb Paul’s pace and then turn points on their head with a single swing.
For Paul, there is the comfort of home support and the knowledge that Alcaraz is still only three matches into his comeback. For Alcaraz, there is the psychological edge of a lopsided head-to-head and the sense that his level is climbing with each round.
The stakes are clear. Win again, and the defending champion will feel fully embedded in this tournament.
A draw opening in front of him
Alcaraz arrived in New York as second seed, but the landscape around him has shifted dramatically.
Jannik Sinner, the world number one and the man who has defined this era’s emerging rivalry with Alcaraz, is not in the draw because of injury. That alone alters the tone of the fortnight.
Alexander Zverev, French Open champion and Wimbledon runner-up, now heads the field on paper. In reality, he has been pushed to the brink twice, taken to five sets and kept on court until 2am in both his matches. It’s hardly the smooth path a top seed craves.
Elsewhere, the shocks have ripped through the top half. Novak Djokovic is gone, stunned in the first round by Mariano Navone. Felix Auger-Aliassime, the Canadian third seed, fell to Karen Khachanov in the second round.
The effect is stark. As things stand, Ben Shelton is the only top-10 player Alcaraz can face before the semi-finals. The American eighth seed, with his booming lefty serve and swagger, would bring noise and theatre to Arthur Ashe, but not a losing record: Alcaraz has won all three of their meetings.
If he reaches the last four, Daniil Medvedev looms as a likely opponent. The Russian seventh seed has beaten Alcaraz this season, at Indian Wells in March, yet still trails 6-3 in their head-to-head. Their styles – Medvedev’s deep-lying, elastic defence against Alcaraz’s all-court aggression – always produce tension.
On the other side of the draw, Zverev’s potential route to the final is littered with threats of a different kind. Taylor Fritz, urged on by home crowds, and Flavio Cobolli, fresh from his breakthrough run to the French Open final, both sit as possible obstacles.
The champion’s road
So the picture is clear. The title defence is no formality, but the road has straightened.
Alcaraz still has to prove that his wrist can handle the grind of a second week and that his timing holds when the pressure spikes. Yet three matches in, the defending champion is moving with purpose, talking with confidence, and winning with the kind of authority that unnerves a locker room.
The draw has given him an opening. The question now is whether anyone left in New York can close it.
