Carlos Alcaraz reaches US Open quarterfinal with late-night win against Marin Cilic
SAN FRANCISCO — Carlos Alcaraz reached the U.S. Open quarterfinal with a 10-8, 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory against Marin Cilic in the third and final match of a day that featured three players at the top of the points list, four players who needed to get to Sunday’s final and seven in the top 10.
No. 1 Andy Murray lost to Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the third round.
The victory was Alcaraz’s third in four career matches against Cilic, who made his fifth appearance in this U.S. Open quarterfinals, and was his fourth straight win for the first time this year and first since March 28-29. Alcaraz, the world No. 2, defeated Nishikori by a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 8-6 at the Farmers Insurance Open, the third round in the U.S. Open.
Alcaraz, who became the first Spaniard to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals, also dropped his third-round encounter against Cilic. In his only other match with the 25-year-old Iranian, Alcaraz defeated him 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5) in straight sets. Alcaraz, who is playing doubles with Spain’s Marcel Granollers, fell to the seventh-seeded Cilic, who missed the cut in his only previous appearance at a U.S. Open quarterfinal, in the first round.
The Associated Press tennis correspondent Tom Wicker reported that this game was the closest the men’s quarterfinals have come since they were determined in 2001.
Cilic, who was ranked No. 2 in the world and reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, lost his singles challenge in his only previous appearance at a U.S. Open quarterfinal, falling 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (5),
