NEW YORK—Few have played Carlos Alcaraz tougher in 2025 than Jiri Lehecka, who split a pair of three-set matches with the former world No. 1 earlier this season.
But the US Open proved a different stage entirely as the second-seeded Alcaraz blitzed No. 20 Lehecka, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to race into his third semifinal in four years at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Tuesday.
“I think that today I kind of met the Grand Slam version of Carlos,” Lehecka said after the match. “I felt that against Carlos, if you want to beat him, you need to win at least few of the big points, and he won all of them, you know. Even when I played really good rally, even when I tried to put him under pressure, go to the net, change the rhythm, do something, he was there, and he had an answer for everything I tried.”
Alcaraz won his first major title in Flushing Meadows back in 2022, but has not won a hard-court major since, picking up two titles each at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The former No. 1 has not dropped a set this year and now stands two wins from his second US Open victory after a one-hour, 56-minute victory on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Lehecka was partly responsible for some of Alcaraz’s hard-court struggles earlier in the year, stunning the Spaniard in three sets at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in February. Though he avenged the Doha defeat two months ago on grass in Queen’s Club, Alcaraz conceded the big hitter from the Czech Republic has become a formidable rival.
