By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Carlos Alcaraz repelled Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-2, scoring his 10th straight victory and setting up a Paris Olympic quarterfinal rematch vs. American Tommy Paul.
Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty
Multi-tasking in his maiden Olympics, Carlos Alcaraz is bringing love and lasers to Paris.
Riding his rocket forehand, Alcaraz blasted past Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-2, celebrating his trip to the Paris Olympic quarterfinals kissing the Spanish flag on his shirt.
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Wimbledon winner Alcaraz scored his 10th consecutive victory.
At age 21 years 91 days, Alcaraz is the youngest player to reach the Olympic men’s singles quarterfinals since Beijing 2008 when Novak Djokovic did it at aged 21 years 87 days.
The second-seeded Alcaraz's day was not done.
Continuing his medal chase in multiple events, Alcaraz and partner Rafael Nadal are scheduled to face Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in doubles on Court Philippe Chatrier tonight.
Inspired by imagination, Alcaraz fought off Olympic gold-medal champion Alexander Zverev 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in a four hour, 19-minute marathon to capture his first Roland Garros championship on Court Philippe Chatrier last month.
On that day, Alcaraz made history as the youngest man to capture Grand Slam championships on the three major surfaces: hard court (2022 US Open), grass (2023-24 Wimbledon) and his native surface red clay in Paris.
Playing on Court Suzanne Lenglen today, Alcaraz electrified fans firing 21 winners, including several stunning sliding passing shots.
The four-time major champion broke in the opening game racing out to a 3-0 lead. Alcaraz converted his second set point to serve out the opening set at 30.
A superb sliding backhand pass brought Alcaraz break point. Safiullin netted a backhand drop shot as Alcaraz seized a 5-2 double-break lead in the second set.
Alcaraz banged an ace out wide to seal his 17th win in his last 18 matches with his lone loss in that span coming to Jack Draper at Queen’s Club last month.
The second-seeded Spaniard will face Tommy Paul in an Olympic quarterfinal rematch of their Wimbledon clash earlier this month.
No. 9-seeded Paul converted his seventh match point, subduring Frenchman Corentin Moutet 7-6(6), 6-3 and a raucous French crowd.
“It was tricky," Paul said in his NBC interview afterward. "The crowd was definitely not on my side today. It’s pretty expected the French crowd always comes out for their players.
"I’d rather play in that atmosphere than a quiet one. Things got very tricky at the end of both sets. He’s a very tricky player so I had to stay locked in on my side of the net."
Queen’s Club champion Paul is the 10th American man to reach the Olympic quarterfinals—and first U.S. man since USC Trojan Stevie Johnson at the 2016 Rio Games.
After today's win, Paul walked up to net, grabbed an imaginary shovel and mimed digging dirt in a symbolic gesture to his team.
"We've been digging all week," Paul said. "It's been so much fun, the whole team has good vibes and we're having a blast. And it helps when you're winning some matches."
Defending Wimbledon champion Alcaraz stopped Paul 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 scoring his 12th straight SW19 win earlier this month.
Paul held a 7-5, 2-0 lead at Wimbledon, but Alcaraz smacked stress away advancing to his sixth Grand Slam semifinal in 14 major appearances.
In a clash of current Queen's champion Paul and the 2023 Queen’s Club champion Alcaraz, the Spaniard converted 8 of 27 break points snapping the American’s nine-match grass-court winning streak on that day.
Paul, who is 2-3 lifetime against Alcaraz, says the Spaniard is a roll player: When Alcaraz ignites the crowd with an audacious winner it empowers his surge.
“When he starts building energy and building momentum, I don't know, it feels a little bit different than most of the other guys,” Paul said of Alcaraz. “He can play some seriously amazing, amazing tennis.
“Half of the job when you're out there is not to let him win one of those crazy points because when he does, he kind of gets on a roll.”