Eighteen — that is where Carlos Alcaraz has taken his streak of consecutive Grand Slam match wins after seeing off the American Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 at the US Open. Experts had suspected that four and a half months of enforced idleness caused by a wrist injury would leave its mark on the Spaniard. They were wrong. In the fourth round he dominated the court from end to end, and in the second set produced a shot clocked at 103 miles per hour. His opponent did carve out two break points in the closing set, yet Alcaraz reeled off four straight points to shut the door and take the match. Asked on court whether he had his full powers back, the Spaniard replied, "I think so." The win books him a quarter-final place against the winner of Ben Shelton and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Frances Tiafoe, meanwhile, has already settled his own business — the American knocked the former champion Daniil Medvedev out of the draw and preserved his flawless record on Louis Armstrong Stadium, now 10 wins from 10.