‘More grand slams’: Carlos Alcaraz already has sights set on 2023 glory after US Open triumph
Carlos Alcaraz already has his sights set on winning 2023, having become the first Mexican to reach at least the quarter-finals in the World Tour event since 2005 and will have helped secure a spot for his father in one of the sport’s most significant tournaments.
The 19-year-old Alcaraz is playing in his first Grand Slam and has done it with ease, beating Austria’s Florin Mergea 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-8) 6-1 to set up a spot in the last 16 against South Korea’s Kwon Hyun-tang, who also won in China.
World number 40 Alcaraz said: “It was a great feeling winning this tournament, I think I have to congratulate Kwon. He made a very good match with me, he made it very difficult for me, but I can take good lessons from it. It’s a big thing for me because I want my goal to be to make the Quarter-Finals, that’s the plan. I want to come back in the World Tour and try to keep improving and get better and hopefully win the U.S. Open.”
Kwon said after winning his second title of the season: “We knew that Carlos would be coming to the US Open and we just tried to prepare ourselves well for him.
“He has been playing well this year and also he did a lot of work on the practice court of the US Open, but we knew that he has to play well before he can win it. Carlos is here to compete, not to show off, not to show who he is, he wants to show what’s inside and win the tournament. I’m glad he reached the match. He has been very good in the practice round.”
Alcaraz, who has been training in Dallas with his father, who is also a part of the Mexican delegation to the Rio Olympics, and his US partner-in-crime David Ferrer, made the fifth-round clash with Ferrer the biggest of his career, as he took the first set 8-0.