Carlos Alcaraz continued his return from long-term injury with a hugely impressive fourth-round win against Tommy Paul at the US Open.
Playing just his fourth competitive singles match after an absence of more than four months, the 23-year-old Spaniard produced a masterful performance to beat American 20th seed Paul 6-4 6-3 6-4.
He has dropped only one set on his way to the last eight in New York and will face American eighth seed Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals.
A wrist injury caused Alcaraz to miss both the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this summer.
He had won the previous two Grand Slams – last year’s US Open and this year’s Australian Open – meaning the straight-set victory over Paul extended his run of match wins at the majors to 18.
Alcaraz is taking a different approach to this tournament in New York, putting a greater emphasis on recovery as he looks to keep his wrist injury-free – even if that means giving up his favourite off-court activity on his days off.
“I’ve been really focused on the recovery with my team, with myself, doing the right things off the court trying to be healthy and in good shape for the next round,” he said.
“Those days, if I’m practising or not, I’m trying to be chill and focus on the next round. So golf this year isn’t an option.”
Alcaraz has won all three of his tour-level matches against Shelton, who beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 6-3 6-4 later on Sunday.
“If Shelton were to come through, he is the kind of player that can knock the racquet out of your hand,” said American former player Jeff Tarango on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.
“It’s going to be a real test to see how Alcaraz’s wrist is with a 149mph serve coming to that forehand, but Alcaraz should get through Shelton if his wrist is fine.”
Alcaraz said after his third-round win that he was happy with the level of fitness he had shown in the early rounds following his lengthy absence, while he demonstrated against Paul that the quality of his shot-making is as good as ever.
One sensational cross-court forehand winner early in the second set, which landed in from an almost impossible angle, was clocked at 103mph.
Former British number one Tim Henman told Sky Sports: “When you haven’t played tennis for four weeks, it seems a lot and you can be a bit rusty. This is four and a half months.
“If you would have given Alcaraz a blank piece of paper at the beginning of the tournament and asked how he’d want the first four matches to go, he would have scripted it exactly like that.
“He’s had a few slightly challenging moments but, in the important moments, he’s just come up with incredible tennis. That’s got to give him so much confidence moving forward.”
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