The next game is always the most complicated.

Especially against a much less prestigious opponent.

And from the top of his 18 years and four months Carlos Alcaraz got out of it.

Fallen to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, the Spanish prodigy was not always sovereign but ended up dismissing Peter Gojowczyk (141st worldwide) after a battle of five sets (5-7, 6-1, 5-7 , 6-2, 6-0), Sunday in the round of 16 of the US Open.

And if he had the last word against the surprising German player, resulting from the qualifications, Alcaraz was well helped by the injury to a thigh which weighed down his opponent at the start of the 4th set, preventing him from keeping his good level of game displayed during a good half of the match.

If he had not been so often feverish on his service games in the first set, during which he was broken four times after having yet taken the opposing commitment three times, Alcaraz could have ended it perhaps sooner.

But he could not be hermetic to the great expectations which he now arouses.

CARLOS ALCARAZ MAKES HISTORY❗



The 18 year old has become the youngest man to reach a major quarterfinal since Michael Chang in 1990 👏 #USOpen pic.twitter.com/6VPtheKo3q

- SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 6, 2021

Expectations justified, because he was finally able to get back into the match twice, also running to score after the loss of the third set.

Proof that his mind was up to the task, in a perilous context on the GrandStand, pregnant a little smaller than the Arthur-Ashe but where he could count on the support of the vast majority of the public.

“I thought I had reached my physical and mental limit.

The audience was really very important to me in this situation.

I felt their energy, it pushed me.

Without the public, it would not have been possible to be here, ”he admitted afterwards.

Clash of hopes against Auger-Aliassime

Thanks to this victory, the Spaniard became the youngest player in the history of the tournament to reach the quarter-finals.

He is even the youngest to reach this stadium in a Grand Slam since Michael Chang in 1990 at Roland Garros.

He will be opposed Wednesday to another great hope of world tennis, the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (21, 15th in the world), who beat the American Frances Tiafoe (4-6, 6-2, 7-6, 6- 4).

For his part, Daniil Medvedev, big favorite behind Novak Djokovic, made short work of Daniel Evans on Sunday and will face in the next round the astonishing Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, striker of Diego Schwartzman.

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