It’s been 10 sets played and nine sets won for Carlos Alcaraz at this year’s US Open as the comeback star has made a resounding return to the courts.
Alcaraz on Friday dropped just eight games in dismissing Wu Yibing, the 6-3 6-4 6-1 third-round win keeping his title defence alive.
Serene progress has been the theme for the second seed, who entered the tournament without a competitive singles match since April as he rehabilitated a wrist injury.
Yet apart from losing the first set of his second-round match against Jaime Faria, Alcaraz has progressed to the second week largely untroubled.
“To be honest, I’m better than I thought,” Alcaraz smiled when asked to assess his comeback.
“Physically I thought I was going to be dead after the first match. But I’m recovering really well. I’m doing great things off the court just to be in a good [position].
“Right now I think my level is really good. I think I got the rhythm of the competition. Every time that I step onto the court, I give it all. I’m just trying to improve, to be better after every match. I think I’m getting there. So I’m just happy about it.
“Hopefully in the next round going to be better than ever.”
Alcaraz, also this year’s Australian Open champion, has now built a 17-match Grand Slam winning streak as he prepares to take on 20th seed Tommy Paul in the fourth round.
As Alcaraz has cruised, Paul has comparatively laboured his way to this point, dropping sets in his first two matches against Coleman Wong and Dino Prizmic then needing five sets to overcome No.15 seed Alexander Bublik.
He’ll now confront a surging Alcaraz who has won their past five meetings and six of eight overall.
Alcaraz admitted “I'm kind of a guy that doesn't need to play a lot of tournaments” yet the form he has found after such an absence has been notable nonetheless.
His serve has gotten progressively bigger across three matches while there has been no significant rust, considering his positive winner-to-unforced-error differential.
CARLOS ALCARAZ' US OPEN STATS
Already a two-time champion in New York, his win over Wu improved his US Open win-loss record to 27-3 – a glittering 90 per cent win rate – and he’s back in the second week for a fifth time at just 23 years of age.
On the eve of the tournament, Australian pro Jaimee Fourlis declared Alcaraz her title favourite.
“I think if Alcaraz is playing, you have to tip him,” she said. “Just because he hasn't played for four months doesn't mean he doesn't know how to play.”
Considering the form of his rivals, that statement rings truer than ever as the year’s final Grand Slam approaches its business end.
Three of the top six seeds are out, as are half of the top 16 seeds. No.1 seed Alexander Zverev has struggled in two five-set victories so far. Only one player remaining aside from Alcaraz – Daniil Medvedev – has won the title at Flushing Meadows.
In a tournament that feels unusually open, Alcaraz feels like its stabilising presence.
Counterintuitively, his four-month absence could be the secret to his sharp, focused performance so far this week at Flushing Meadows.
“I just want to step on the court, have joy, have fun on the court, because sometimes playing such a long season or playing a lot of tournaments week after week, I feel like I'm not playing with joy, I don't have fun on the court,” he said.
“I just want to miss the tennis sometimes, miss the tours, miss you guys [the media].
“That's why I just want to have long breaks, because it's impossible to last the whole season playing every tournament.”
Of course, Alcaraz would prefer that long break to be of his own choosing, rather than imposed upon him because of injury.
But after three wins so far in New York, and just one set dropped, it certainly hasn’t hampered him as he approaches the second week and remains on track for more US Open silverware.