Second seed Carlos Alcaraz cruised into the US Open semi-finals Tuesday, demolishing Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-4 6-2 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium.Alcaraz has yet to drop a set at Flushing Meadows and he had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he fired off 28 winners and never faced a break point.Lehecka is one of the few players to beat Alcaraz this season, winning in the Doha quarter-finals, but was outclassed this time around and could only watch helplessly as the Spaniard’s forehand winner zipped by on match point.Alcaraz will play the winner of the match later between 24-times major winner Novak Djokovic and American fourth seed Taylor Fritz.Pegula cruises past Krejcikova into US Open semisAmerican Jessica Pegula reached her second straight US Open semi-final with a clinical 6-3 6-3 win over twice Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova Tuesday.Fourth-ranked Pegula had a dreadful run-up to the year’s final major but has flipped the script in New York, where she has yet to drop a set and fired off 17 winners to beat the unseeded Czech.Krejcikova recovered from injuries earlier this year and saved eight match points in a fourth-round thriller to reach the final eight but ran out of gas against the 2024 runner-up.Pegula will face the winner of the match between the defending champion and world number one Aryna Sabalenka and unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova.“I feel like I’m just really comfortable,” said Pegula. “It’s pretty crazy... 10 years ago I never thought I’d be good at this (and reach the final stages of a Slam) but I guess I am.”Krejcikova missed an overhead shot in the second game and was seen repeatedly rubbing her eyes as she struggled to deal with fatigue following two bruising back-to-back three-set matches, surrendering her serve with a double fault.She broke back when Pegula sent a backhand into the net in the seventh game but Krejcikova immediately handed the advantage back to the American by dropping her serve again.Pegula broke the Czech to love with a backhand winner down the line in the opening game of the second set.Playing in her first US Open quarter-final in four years, Krejcikova appeared to be heading for a swift defeat as she fell behind 4-1 with Pegula having secured the double break after the errors kept flying off her Czech rival’s racket.Although Krejcikova showed some signs of life as she regained one of the breaks in the sixth game, the effort only delayed the inevitable.Two double faults in the final game capped a miserable day for Krejcikova, while a beaming Pegula soaked in the roaring cheers from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd after wrapping up the lopsided win.Ruthless Sinner routs Bublik under the lightsDefending champion Jannik Sinner said he enjoyed the vibe of playing under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights after he continued his hardcourt Grand Slam run by hammering 23rd seed Alexander Bublik on Monday to make the US Open quarter-finals.The Italian came into the match on Labour Day seeking his 25th straight major match win on his preferred surface and never looked in danger against a tricky rival, bolting out of the blocks to win 6-1 6-1 6-1 on his night session debut this year.“It’s always special to go on Ashe to play,” Sinner said.“Night matches, they’re a bit different because there’s a bit more attention, I feel. It’s a different vibe, also around the court. It’s very loud. It’s also different to play.“It was the first time for me this year. It was nice. You have the good and the bad if you play in the evening. It’s very special and you feel very privileged to step onto court in the night on the biggest court we have.”A mere 81 minutes after the clash began, Sinner was back in the locker room after gaining revenge for a shock defeat by Bublik in the Halle final, his only loss to a player not named Carlos Alcaraz this year.“We know each other well. We’ve had some tough battles this year so we know each other a bit better,” top seed Sinner said. “He had a tough match last time (against Tommy Paul), finishing late. He didn’t serve as well as he does. I broke him in every set and it gave me the confidence to play well.”A double break helped Sinner build a 4-0 lead before Bublik could even get on the board, and the dominant 24-year-old chased down a drop shot to fire home a deep backhand winner that wrapped up the opening set with another break.Bublik’s attempts to disrupt Sinner’s rhythm with more drop shots proved futile but it was his service errors that left him trailing by two sets, before Sinner wheeled away to his eighth straight major quarter-final.Up next is a meeting with compatriot Lorenzo Musetti and Sinner said it would be a great occasion for Italian tennis.“It’s great to see. Italian tennis is in great form. We have so many players and different game styles,” he said. “Lorenzo is one of the biggest talents we have in our sport. I’m looking forward to this one. From an Italian point of view, it’s great to have for sure one Italian player in the semis. “I know that there are a lot of Italian players in the crowd. It makes everything special.”