Red-hot Carlos Alcaraz stays perfect as he enters Australian Open quarters

The sizzling Spaniard continued his red-hot form Down Under with a 7-6(6), 6-4, 7-5 win over the American. Alcaraz is yet to drop a set at AO 2026.

Paul started strong, breaking Alcaraz's serve to earn a 4-2 lead, only for the young gun to rally and force a tiebreaker, which Paul handed to him with a double fault at the death.

Alcaraz's fire forehand found its range in the second set and one break was enough to clinch the set. Paul showed incredible fight to save three break points to hold serve at 2-1 in the third, but ran out of quality as Alcaraz converted at the next opportunity to close out the set and the match.

"I think he started pretty strong," said Alcaraz in his on-court interview.

"In the first game, serving, I thought I played a good game, but he came with really strong shots, really flat, and for me it was a bit difficult.

"But I stayed there all the time and I knew I was going to have my chances, and I tried to take them. I think I did that.

"Overall, I think it was a really high level of tennis from both sides, but I'm just really happy that I got it in straight sets."

With the victory, the 22-year-old stays on track to dethrone Rafael Nadal as the youngest man to complete the career grand slam.  His last-eight clash will be against either sixth seed Australian Alex de Minaur or tenth seed Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik.

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