This wasn’t some tomato can.
This wasn’t a qualifier or an unseeded opponent.
It was Alexander Zverev, the 12th-ranked man in the world who has reached the semifinals in five of the last 10 Grand Slam tournaments he had played in and was coming off of an upset of No. 6 Jannik Sinner.
It didn’t matter.
Not against Carlos Alcaraz.
Zverev played a strong first set, arguably outplayed Alcaraz.
But the top-ranked Spaniard and rising superstar found a way to break Zverev late in that set, and once he did, it was over for the German.
Alcaraz served beautifully and was typically dominant from the baseline to the net, moving onto the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday night.
Alcaraz will meet No. 3 Daniil Medvedev on Friday, as he looks to repeat as the Open champion in Flushing.
Zverev failed to break the 20-year-old Alcaraz once, whiffing on five opportunities.
He had double break points up 2-1 in the third set, but Alcaraz answered with a drop shot winner and a big serve to eliminate them.
Alcaraz, meanwhile, converted all four of his break point chances in the one-sided two-hour and 29-minute match.
Earlier in the tournament, Zverev pushed back at the narrative that an Alcaraz-Novak Djokovic final was inevitable.
He mentioned the other strong players on the tour as all being capable of halting that showdown.
“It’s natural for the media to find rivalries, I think. But I think, as I said last time – Novak said it very well – there are other players that can play in the draw, there are other players that both of those guys have lost to,” Zverev said.
He had his opportunity and he couldn’t come close to even slowing down Alcaraz.
Maybe Medvedev, who knocked off eighth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev in straight sets earlier in the day, will have a better chance.
More likely, it will come down to Alcaraz against Djokovic on Sunday afternoon, just as did at Wimbledon in July.
