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

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

Coming out on top of a tight, two-hour, 23-minute match Friday evening, Alcaraz still has yet to drop a set after posting a 6-4, 7-6 (4), 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 won 44 of his last 46 matches in a display of utter dominance.

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No man in the Open era has ever won the title without dropping a set.

The last to reach the final under such circumstances was Roger Federer in 2015, when he lost to Djokovic in four sets.

Alcaraz will look to be the first Sunday against Jannik Sinner, who ousted Felix Auger Aliassime 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the later semifinal.

“It’s something that I’m working on, just the consistency on the matches, on the tournaments, on the year in general,” Alcaraz said of not dropping a set. “Just not having up-and-downs in the match. Just the level that I start the match, just wanted to keep that level really high during the whole match. So I’m thinking I’m doing that in this tournament, which I’m really proud about.”

The home crowd was behind Djokovic, who beat Alcaraz in four sets at this year’s Australian Open quarterfinals in their only other match of the year.

Those gathered launched out of their seats on Djokovic’s 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.

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After dropping the first set, Djokovic built a quick 3-0 lead in the second before Alcaraz pushed back to even it up.

The tiebreak saw Alcaraz jump out to a 4-1 advantage, but a couple of hustle points by Djokovic cut it to one.

Alcaraz then blasted a 131-mph serve to set up his second set point.

“I lost three out of four slams in semis against these guys,” Djokovic said after the match, referring to Alcaraz and Sinner. “So they’re just too good, you know, playing on a really high level. Unfortunately, I ran out of gas after the second set. I think I had enough energy to battle him and to keep up with his rhythm for two sets. After that, I was gassed out, and he kept going. That’s kind of what I felt this year also with Jannik.

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“Yeah, best-of-five makes it very, very difficult for me to play them. Particularly if it’s like the end stages of the Grand Slam.”

Alcaraz needed just 32 minutes to close out the 38-year-old in the third set, in which the world No. 2 collected a match-high four aces to finish with seven on the match.

Finishing with 31 winners against 30 unforced errors compared to Djokovic’s 15 winners and 30 unforced errors, the 22-year-old Alcaraz became the youngest man to reach multiple major finals on each surface.

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Alcaraz has reached the final of his eight tournaments this year, winning five of them before qualifying for his seventh Grand Slam final here in New York.

“This is the best level or the best feeling that I have so far in a tennis tournament or in a year,” he said. “So I will try to continue like that.”