In a surprise twist, bottom of Thursday night, No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz lost to Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp during the second round of the US Open. The 21-year-old Spaniard lost 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 and has had his worst performance at Flushing Meadows in the last four years to snap his 15-match win streak in the Grand Slam.
This defeat marked Alcaraz's first at the second-round stage of a major since Wimbledon 2021 against the then No. 2-ranked Daniil Medvedev. Guilty of unforced errors throughout, 27 in total, Alcaraz committed 12 off his forehand side and often considerably wide of their target.
This second game of the first set was quite a memorable one, as both players were contesting almost every point with some brilliant net play, lobs, and even a tweener. Van de Zandschulp did not let go of his first break point against Alcaraz's serve and consolidated it to take a 4-1 lead. Keeping his cool, he went on to take the first set 6-1.
During the second set of play, Alcaraz was able to hold early in the set, but his opponent, Van de Zandschulp, equalled him game for game. He made a total of just three winners against his twelve unforced errors and afterward lost his serve again. Alcaraz broke back to restore the second set to 2-2 but then blew up when serving at 5-5, hitting three forehand errors and a double fault to give Van de Zandschulp a 7-5 set.
Two sets down, Alcaraz lost his serve again, going 3-2 behind in the third set. For a moment, Van de Zandschulp, serving at 40-0, wobbled again with a double fault; he regained his advantage and clinched the set 6-4 for the match win as the match clock ticked past two hours and fifteen minutes.
It's the highest-ranked win of Van de Zandschulp's career against the World No. 3. The 2022 US Open champion as a teen, Alcaraz had reached at least the quarterfinals in every event since his 2021 debut and was the youngest No. 1 seed in tournament history a year ago.
Van de Zandschulp, the 2021 quarterfinalist, will face No. 25 seed Jack Draper of England, who cruised through the third round in straight sets against Argentina's Facundo Diaz Acosta.
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