Carlos Alcaraz bests Novak Djokovic as he inches closer to US Open perfection

Carlos Alcaraz finally has his hard-court win over Novak Djokovic, and a U.S. Open final berth to go with it. 

Coming out on top of a tight match Friday evening, Alcaraz has still yet to drop a set after posting a 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 victory in front of a star-studded raucous crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium to earn the right to compete for his second title in Flushing. 

The Spaniard, who was previously 0-3 against Djokovic on hard surface, has now won 44 of his last 46 matches in a display of utter dominance. 

The home crowd was behind Djokovic, who won his one other meeting with Alcaraz in 2025 — in four sets — in the Australian Open quarterfinals. They launched out of their seats on his big points and even had a few “Novak!” cheers soar out of the open roof. 

But Alcaraz stayed determined and diligent in fending off the No. 7-seeded Serb. 

No man in the Open era has ever won the title without dropping a single set. Alcaraz will look to be the first against the winner of Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime. 

After dropping the first set, Djokovic built a quick 3-0 lead in the second set before Alcaraz pushed back to even it up. The tiebreak saw Alcaraz build a 4-1 advantage