Alcaraz said after his third-round win that he was happy with the level of fitness he had shown in the early rounds following his lengthy absence, while he demonstrated against Paul that the quality of his shot-making is as good as ever.
One sensational cross-court forehand winner early in the second set, which landed in from an almost impossible angle, was measured at 103mph.
That came shortly after Alcaraz had broken Paul’s serve in the 10th game of a tight, high-quality opening set to take it 6-4.
Paul, who was attempting to reach the quarter-finals of his home Grand Slam for the first time, battled hard throughout but Alcaraz proved to be too strong.
Paul had two break points when Alcaraz served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but the two-time US Open champion put together a run of four straight points to seal victory.
Former British number one Tim Henman told Sky Sports: “When you haven’t played tennis for four weeks, it seems a lot and you can be a bit rusty. This is four and a half months.
“If you would have given Alcaraz a blank piece of paper at the beginning of the tournament and asked how he’d want the first four matches to go, he would have scripted it exactly like that.
“He’s had a few slightly challenging moments but, in the important moments, he’s just come up with incredible tennis. That’s got to give him so much confidence moving forward.”
Later on Sunday, home hope Frances Tiafoe delighted American fans with a entertaining victory over 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev.
Tiafoe saved a set point in the third-set tie-break before wrapping up a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win moments later to maintain his perfect record on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The 11th seed has won all 10 of his matches on the US Open’s secondary show court, while it is just his second win in eight appearances against Russian Medvedev.
Tiafoe, a two-time semi-finalist in New York, will face fellow American Alex Michelsen in the last eight after the 22-year-old beat Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 6-4 to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
-8 MW Lee (Aus); -6 V Hovland (Nor), C Morikawa (US), C Gotterup (US); -5 R Gerard (US), A Bhatia (US), L Aberg (Swe), S Scheffler (US)
Selected others: -4 T Fleetwood (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), R Fox (NZ); -3 R MacIntyre (Sco), W Clark (US); -2 J Rose (Eng), A Fitzpatrick (Eng), R McIlroy (NI)
Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood shot a four-under 66 to put himself in contention, four strokes off first-round leader Min Woo Lee at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
However, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy endured a mixed start in his bid to win a record-extending fourth Fedex Cup, bogeying two of the first four holes before fighting back on the back nine to sign for a 68.
Lee, who won last month’s Scottish Open, carded a bogey-free 62 to set the pace at eight under as he equalled his best ever round on the PGA Tour in its season-ending event at East Lake.
Australia’s Lee is two strokes clear of Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who triumphed in 2023, and American duo Collin Morikawa and Chris Gotterup.
It was a fine display from Lee, who was second from last in the BMW Championship a week ago and found himself without a partner for most of the day, with JJ Spaun withdrawing through injury after four holes.
“It was a little strange at first, just like looking for a playing partner and you’re just there by yourself,” said Lee.
“It was more just maintaining speeds and not rushing because I would just catch the group in front and wait. So I had to just slow down a little bit. It worked out.”
Ominously, world number one Scottie Scheffler ended his round with a birdie on the 18th to sit at five under, with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick in the mix at four under after also making a birdie four on the concluding hole.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is at three under, with the highlight of his day arriving on the sixth hole when he rolled in a putt from over 30 feet for an eagle.
England’s Justin Rose and Alex Fitzpatrick both signed for rounds of 68 on a day when none of the 29 players in the field to complete the round went over par.
The winner on Sunday will take home the Fedex Cup and a $10m (£7.4m) prize.
Those who were at Dodger Stadium on a gorgeous Friday night seemed to be in for an all-nighter.
They have Tommy Edman to thank for getting home a bit earlier.
With two outs in the 10th, Kiké Hernández on third and Kyle Tucker on first, the second baseman hit a walk-off single against Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Gregory Soto, earning the Dodgers a 5-4 win.
“Yeah, it feels great,” Edman said. “We’ve kind of been struggling a little bit in those clutch situations, myself included, so it felt really good to come through.”
Edman entered the at-bat 0 for 3 and was seemingly on the verge of keeping the 200-minute game alive in an unfavorable way.
Soto, however, threw the same low-middle sweeper that Edman fouled off one pitch earlier, and the second baseman jumped on it the second time around, propelling the Dodgers (78-51) to four consecutive wins for the first time since late July.
“That’s something I really try to take pride in — leaving past at-bats behind me — and I think I’ve done a good job of that this year,” Edman said. “I think that’s something we do really well overall as a group, and that leads to coming through in big situations like that, putting past at-bats behind you.
“One of the best feelings after grinding for 10 innings,” he added. “We had a bunch of pitchers do a really good job today.”
However, the victory was tempered by the loss of center fielder Andy Pages, who was struck in the left hand with a Bubba Chandler pitch in the third inning. Manager Dave Roberts said X-rays showed a fracture and Pages is expected to be out at least four weeks.
The right-hander brought the urgency to the mound that the Dodgers were missing during an abysmal 5-11 stretch that ended with a sweep against the Colorado Rockies this week.
“I personally felt like today’s game is very important,” Yamamoto said. “We’re gonna have [Tarik] Skubal starting [Saturday], and I just wanted to maintain the momentum, which started in Colorado.”
Yamamoto surrendered two runs — both via singles from Pirates designated hitter Nick Gonzales — on five hits over 6⅓ innings, striking out nine and walking one.
“My stuff was pretty good today,” Yamamoto said. “I was feeling pretty good out there. So even after letting runners on the bases, I just tried to focus and then take it one hitter at a time.”
Chandler, meanwhile, exited after four innings. Max Muncy hit a two-run homer in the first, and Mookie Betts contributed a two-run single in the third.
The Dodgers, with a 4-2 lead, cruised into the eighth. But Kyle Hurt gave up a tying two-run homer to Oneil Cruz.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second inning Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Matters looked grim for the Dodgers in the 10th when Evan Phillips found himself in a one-out, bases-loaded jam.
All was well, though, once Phillips got Henry Davis to ground into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
“That was great,” Roberts said of Phillips. “I know that he’s trying to kind of build as we’re going through this, and [it] hasn’t been smooth sailing for him and the success that he’s used to. But this is a big one. Big confidence builder for him … to strand those two runners was a big outing for him.”
Edman took care of the rest.
And for maybe the first time in weeks, the Dodgers appear to be inching back to their champion ways.
“I think our guys are kind of reinterested, you know, collectively,” Roberts said before the game. “So, that’s a good thing.”
Andy Pages sustains hand fracture
Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages gets hit by a pitch during the third inning against the Pirates on Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Roberts said Pages sustained a fracture on the back of his left hand when he was hit by the 100-mph pitch It’s unclear if he will need surgery.
“Well, it’s just really unfortunate, obviously,” Roberts said. “It’s not season-ending. … So, I would expect him back, knowing him, on the earlier side. … I feel for him because he’s having such a good year.”
Roberts said Edman is an option to fill in for Pages in center field.
In a more positive development, Will Smith faced live pitching for the first time since June, and Roberts said that the plan is to activate the catcher during the first week of September.
“Today was a good day for Will,” Roberts said. “Taking at-bats. He’ll catch a couple bullpens today. He’ll do a couple more lives. … He still needs to get his legs back under him before we feel confident that he can take down a major league game and feel good coming out of it.”
Roberts added that Smith is “gonna play in the postseason” and that there is enough time for him to reach 100% strength.
Tyler Glasnow will likely be activated during the Dodgers’ upcoming trip to Atlanta.
“I just saw him. He had a great outing — his last rehab outing,” Roberts said. “I’m not sure which day we’re gonna pencil him in against the Braves, but if all of the things check out, it’ll be that [series].”
Ohtani will return to the mound at some point this season.
“It’s gonna happen,” Roberts said. “[Ohtani] threw another bullpen. … I think that there’s going to be a live or two, and then he’ll be on the mound. I just don’t know when we’re going to do that with the scheduling.”
Dalton Rushing is “pain-free” and close to facing live pitching, according to Roberts, but the catcher is “unlikely” to return to catching this season.
“I hope I’m wrong,” Roberts said. “But he’s determined to go through the process, the progression, the build-up and get back. And we’ll see where we’re at.”
Roberts didn’t rule out the possibility of Rushing being activated as a designated hitter down the line.
The Dodgers just can’t have some peace and calm, can they? Now, an owner is getting in on the fun with some controversy.
