Alcaraz could reclaim the world number one ranking with a victorious campaign in New York, a fact he is trying not to dwell on.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I step onto the court I try not to think about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I think about the number one spot too much I think I\u2019m going to put pressure on myself and I don\u2019t want to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1756769048_562_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Alcaraz has not dropped a set during a relentless march into the semi-finals and was once again in complete control against Lehecka.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old — who won the first of his five Grand Slam singles title at Flushing Meadows in 2022 — broke Lehecka in the opening game before wrapping up the first set with ease.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz, efficient on his own serve in the first set, then raced away with the second set, breaking Lehecka to take a 5-2 lead before holding to take a 2-0 advantage.<\/p>\n
The third set went with serve until the ninth game, when Lehecka smacked a straightforward forehand long at 30-40 down and was broken for the fourth time in the match.<\/p>\n
That left Alcaraz serving for the match, and he duly held to love, sealing his win with a scorching forehand into the corner.<\/p>\n
– Pegula eyes \u2018revenge\u2019 –<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s draw on Tuesday, American fourth seed Pegula — beaten in the final last year — advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of unseeded Czech Barbora Krejcikova.<\/p>\n
Pegula entered the US Open on the back of a dismal run of form that had seen her make early exits at WTA tournaments in Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
But she has rediscovered her confidence while moving stealthily through the rounds at New York, albeit against a series of unseeded opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve been playing some really good tennis,\u201d Pegula said after completing a 1hr 26min victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to feel this comfortable on the biggest court in the world with the craziest crowd and the best players. It\u2019s something that 10 years ago I never thought I\u2019d be good at this but I guess I am.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pegula will play reigning US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka or former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova on Thursday for a place in the final.<\/p>\n
World number one Sabalenka, who defeated Pegula in last year\u2019s US Open final, faces Vondrousova in Tuesday\u2019s late women\u2019s quarter-final.<\/p>\n
Pegula said she would welcome the chance to avenge last year\u2019s final defeat to Sabalenka.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be cool to be able to get revenge, obviously,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz powered into the US Open semi-finals to set up a potential showdown with Novak Djokovic on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[2095,4909,64,63,81219,2065,962,10027,586,81221,11301,2057,49995,8463,81220,938,1025,2041,2067,3583,3592,12293,81218,2111,3595,2020,85,3599,747,62350,3586,2614,3601,10911],"class_list":["post-114060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-america","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blockbuster-semi-final","tag-canada","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-cincinnati","tag-czech-republic","tag-demon-books","tag-eastern-europe","tag-europe","tag-final-defeat","tag-golf-swing","tag-human-highlight-reel","tag-montreal","tag-new-york","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-northern-europe","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-ohio","tag-quarterfinal-round","tag-quebec","tag-southern-europe","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-championships","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-washington","tag-world-number"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}