Carlos Alcaraz sweeps Novak Djokovic to reach U.S. Open final

Carlos Alcaraz stormed into his third consecutive Grand Slam final by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in their U.S. Open semifinal bout Friday afternoon in New York.

The 22-year-old Spanish star will face either World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy or Canadian 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who will meet in the other semifinal Friday evening.

Alcaraz is hunting his sixth Grand Slam title and his second this year, following his victory over Sinner at the French Open. He is 45-2 in his past 47 matches overall.

Over the course of two hours and 25 minutes, Alcaraz outperformed the Serbian legend by winning 42 of his 50 first-service points (84 percent), including seven aces. He dropped only one service game -- just the second time his serve has been broken all tournament.

"It's a great feeling. Once again in the final here at the U.S. Open, it feels amazing," Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.

Alcaraz won the 2022 U.S. Open and reached the semifinals the following year before a surprising second-set exit in 2024.

"Today, I'd say -- it wasn't the best level of the tournament for me, but I just kept a good level from the beginning until the last point," Alcaraz said. "I served pretty well, I think that was really, really important. Trying to play a really physical match and I think I did it. In general, I played really good tennis and I'm just really happy to be able to play in my second final here."

Djokovic, 38, will finish without a Grand Slam title for the second year in a row. The record 24-time major winner advanced to the semifinals at all four Slams this year, but did not reach a final.

He allowed it is going to continue to be hard to be the last man standing in Grand Slam tournaments with stars like Alcaraz and Sinner.

"I still want to play the Grand Slam season next year," Djokovic said. "Let's see whether that's gonna happen or not ... but I do fancy my chances more in best-of-three one-week tournaments or the Masters tournaments where you could have a few days between matches. That could serve me better in the matchups against them."

Djokovic broke Alcaraz's serve in the second game of the second set en route to a 3-0 lead. Alcaraz ripped off the next three games with ease and they held serve all the way to a second-set tiebreaker, which Alcaraz won thanks to a 4-1 head start.

Alcaraz broke Djokovic for a 3-1 lead in the third set, at which point the eventual outcome was no longer in question.

--Field Level Media