Carlos Alcaraz: my goal is to be number 1 5:27
(CNN) --
The US Open men's draw is guaranteed a Grand Slam champion for the first time after Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz beat 2014 winner Marin Cilic in New York.
Alcaraz, 19, won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a match that ended at 2:23 am local time.
The Spaniard, the highest-ranked player remaining in the men's draw, will contest his second US Open quarterfinal when he takes on Italy's Jannik Sinner on Wednesday.
"It was unbelievable," Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
"After the fourth set, I had a lot of chances at the end. I lost the fourth set. It was hard for me to come back in the fifth set, stay strong mentally, but... the energy I got (from the crowd) today made me win." he added.
Who is Carlos Alcaraz, the rising tennis star and new world number 6?
Alcaraz celebrates victory over Cilic in a 5-set match at the US Open on September 6, 2022.
The Spaniard is the youngest man to reach a back-to-back quarter-final at the US Open since 1953 and is now arguably the favorite to lift this year's title after top players Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal were defeated earlier this week.
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A complicated game for Alcaraz
Against Cilic, in a match that lasted nearly four hours, Alcaraz took the lead in the first and third sets, but could not put his Croatian opponent out until the fifth.
He went down a break early in the match but battled back to win the next four games and take the first set.
There was a similar story in the second set when Alcaraz broke early before Cilic won four straight games and held serve to level the match.
Frances Tiafoe of the USA stuns Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the US Open
The third set was held on serve until Alcaraz broke at 5-4, but his 2-1 lead was cut short when Cilic came from behind in the fourth set, despite the young Spaniard having break points of his own throughout the set.
As the match progressed well past midnight, Alcaraz seized the lead with a break at love at 2-1 and sealed victory when Cilic blasted a forehand into the top of the net.
This was by far the toughest test of the tournament so far for Alcaraz, who had not dropped a set before meeting Cilic.
He will now face another rising star, 21-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner, who like Alcaraz hopes to reach a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time.
Carlos Alcaraz US Open
