Carlos Alcaraz surged into US Open quarters, Jabeur-Pegula bow out

Carlos Alcaraz surged into the quarterfinals of the US Open on Monday as upsets dominated the womenrsquos draw with Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula becoming the latest highly ranked players to go crashing outDefending champion Alcaraz who has only dropped one set on his journey into the last eight produced a dominant display to overwhelm Italian World No 61 Matteo Arnaldi winning 63 63 64 in 1hr 57minldquoI think the intensity from the beginning until the last ball I played a really solid match less mistakesrdquo Alcaraz said after Mondayrsquos brisk victory ldquoIrsquom really happy with the performance in generalrdquoNext up Alexander ZverevAlcaraz will face 12th seed Alexander Zverev in Wednesdayrsquos quarterfinals after the 2020 US Open finalist from Germany defeated Italian sixth seed Jannik Sinner in a fiveset duel tinged with controversyZverev who is returning to his best form after a gruesome injury at the French Open last year that forced a sixmonth layoff downed Sinner 64 36 62 46 63 on the Arthur Ashe StadiumThe 4hr 41min battle which wrapped at 139am local time saw an ugly incident in the fourth set when Zverev complained of a ldquoHitler phraserdquo being shouted from the stands as he prepared to serveldquoHe just said the most famous Hitler phrase there is in this worldrdquo Zverev told the umpire ldquoThis is unbelievablerdquoOns Jabeur and Jessica PegulaFan ejected for Hitler callA male fan was subsequently identified as the alleged culprit and ejected from the arena before Zverev went on to seal victoryldquoI love when fans are loud I love when fans are emotional but I think me being German and not really proud of that history itrsquos not really a great thing to dordquo Zverev said of the incident afterwardsAlso Read Reigning champ Carlos Alcaraz returns as fanfavouriteldquoIf I just donrsquot react I think itrsquos bad from my siderdquo In other menrsquos matches on Monday eighthseeded Russian Andrey Rublev advanced with a 63 36 63 64 defeat of Britainrsquos Jack DraperRublev to face MedvedevRublev will now face an allRussian quarterfinal against close friend Daniil Medvedev the thirdseeded 2021 US Open champion who punched his ticket to the last eight with a 26 64 61 62 defeat of Australian 13th seed Alex de Minaur Rublev who has known Medvedev since childhood is godfather to his quarterfinal opponentrsquos daughterIn the womenrsquos draw meanwhile more seeds bit the dust a day after World No 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek was sent packing in the fourth round American third seed Jessica Pegula was routed in straight sets by compatriot and friend Madison Keys while Tunisiarsquos fifth seed Jabeurmdashbeaten in last yearrsquos finalmdashwas ousted 62 64 by Chinarsquos Zheng QinwenPegularsquos campaign came to an abrupt halt in front of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium as 2017 US Open finalist Keys recorded a dominant 61 63 win in just 61 minutes The 17thseeded Keys will now face Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals on WednesdayNinth seed Vondrousova booked her place in the last eight with a battling win over unseeded American Peyton Stearns coming from a set down to win 67 37 63 62 Jabeur meanwhile who has been struggling with flu since arriving in New York finally saw her luck run out after scrapping her way to threeset victories in her previous two gamesThe Tunisian simply had no answer to 23rd seed Zhengrsquos blend of power and precision with the 20yearold from Shiyan looking far sharper than her weary opponentSabalenka test for ZhengZhengrsquos quarterfinal assignment is a daunting date with second seed Aryna Sabalenka who celebrated her rise to the pinnacle of womenrsquos tennis by routing Russiarsquos Daria Kasatkina 61 63 to secure her last eight berth Swiatekrsquos exit on Sunday guarantees that the 25yearold Belarusian will become the new World No 1 when the latest global rankings are released next week ldquoIt means a lot to merdquo Sabalenka said of her No1 ranking after defeating KasatkinaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever