Carlos Alcaraz “suffocates” Tommy Paul, sends American out of Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia—Preparing to play an opponent who’s beaten him twice before, Carlos Alcaraz was ready to “suffer” to win his fourth round at the 2026 Australian Open.

“I have to accept the tough moments that is gonna be in the match,” he said on Friday. “You know, from that, just move on, and I'm trying to feel comfortable, you know, in those rallies, in those tough moments.”

Ultimately it was Paul who suffered through three sets; though he broke Alcaraz in the opening game, the top-seeded Spaniard eventually “suffocated” the in-form American to advance, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5.

“He makes you feel like you have no time,” the No. 19 seed explained. “He rushes you.

“I hit my forehand terribly today, and he saw that early. He was trying to get in that forehand-to-forehand rally, and he did it much better than I did. That's what it felt like. It felt like he got all the patterns he wanted, and I was having a tough time getting into the patterns that I wanted.”

Paul enjoyed early success against Alcaraz, beating him in back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023. But the world No. 1 has pulled away in their head-to-head, winning their last five matches despite Paul keeping each match close.

“You know you're going to have fun, at least,” sighed Paul, who shut down his season after the US Open last summer. “When we have points like that and the crowd loves it, we love it. You know that you're going to have fun points. You know that you're going to, like, have points you both play great tennis.

“I wish we had more of them today, honestly. Obviously for me that means that I'm coming up with shots and being a shot-maker. Obviously we've all seen that he does that. I wish there were more. That is the fun part about playing Carlos, though.”

Alcaraz largely sacrificed fun in favor of efficiency, the reigning Roland Garros and US Open champion pleased to have made it past Paul with minimal scar tissue heading into the quarterfinals.

“Something that I was working on is to maintain the focus in the whole match, which I did it today, playing such great tennis since the beginning until the end of the match,” smiled Alcaraz in a truly absurd outfit—a zebra printed shirt and matching cape. “So, for me, it was really, really important more than saving energy, because I just have plenty of!”

The match was at its closest in the first set tiebreaker, when play was delayed nearly 15 minutes to help a sick fan leave Rod Laver Arena. Insisting the delay didn’t affect his play, Paul indeed nabbed a mini-break late in the Sudden Death but couldn’t hold on and Alcaraz ran away with the set.

“I'm overall leaving Australia pretty happy with where my body is at and where my game is at, for not playing for a while,” said Paul, who aims to get back into the Top 10. “I feel like I jumped right back into it pretty quick. So overall leaving happy.”

In his Tuesday quarterfinal Alcaraz will play one of two Alexanders—No. 6 seed De Minaur or No. 10 seed Bublik—but he won’t have to suffer due to what are predicted to be sweltering conditions, thanks to the Australian Open’s numerous roofs.

“I have to control the things that I can control,” said Alcaraz, who leads De Minaur 5-0 in their head-to-head but has never played Bublik before. “You know, if it is going to be really, really hot on Tuesday and the roof is going to be closed, I gotta to be accepted that and just trying to play my best tennis on indoor.

“So, whatever it is, I just will be ready. I will be focused. I will try not to think about it. I will try not to affect my game at all, and I think that's it.”