Carlos Alcaraz continued his rich form as he bested America’s Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday afternoon at the US Open. With this win, the Spaniard moved to the quaterfinals of the New York Major and he is on a personal-best 18-match winning streak at the majors.

Alcaraz improved to 7-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Paul and has beaten the American at all four Grand Slam events. He is just the 10th man to defeat the same opponent at each of the majors in the Open Era.

The World No.3 said he tried to back his own game against Paul.

“I played my game. I tried to play my style,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “Tommy is such a talented player. His shots are pretty dangerous and sometimes it is really difficult to control the ball when it comes to you. I just tried to be ready for a battle and tried to be aggressive all the time.

“I tried not to let him stay [high up] on the court and I think I did pretty well to put so much pressure on return games, which for me helped a lot to play relaxed, to play calm and think clearly. I’m really happy with the performance today.”

Both players were able to hold their serve in the first nine games of the opening set before Alcaraz converted a break point in the 10th game and eventually drew first blood. The Spaniard broke Paul’s serve on two occasions in the second set and then got an early break in the third set.

Alcaraz is making a comeback to the tour after recovering from a wrist injury.

“I think so,” Alcaraz laughed when asked if he felt back to full physical power. “I didn’t expect to reach [at least] the quarter-finals here every year since 2021, so that shows how special this place is to me. It shows how good I play every time I come here. It doesn’t matter that I was out for four and a half months: Every time that I come here I play my best.”

Alcaraz will next take on Ben Shelton in the quarterfinal on Tuesday.