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Thursday night’s U.S. Open surprise Carlos Alcaraz of Spain was eliminated in the second round In the hands of the Dutch Botic from ZandschulpRanked 74th in the world, the result confirms Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic as wide favorites in the final Grand Slam of the season.
Italian sinnerThe world number one had no trouble advancing to the third round in New York as she sought her first title. Djokovic Looking for his 25th Grand Slam trophy.
But the initial trio suffered a devastating blow with the loss of Alcaraz, which became the worst result of a Spanish tennis player in a major tournament. Alcaraz, champion of the 2022 US Open and three other Grand Slam trophies, this time was surpassed by the tennis of Van de Zandschulp, who defeated him in straight sets. 6-1, 7-5 and 6-4. The thousands of spectators on Flushing Meadows Centre Court were stunned: they had expected the Spaniards to triumph, only to see a crushing defeat.
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The first alarm sounded when Alcaraz won the first set in just 31 minutes. No winning blow was scored, In front of Van de Zandschulp, he conducted with a confident right hand.
The Spaniard had a few timid responses threatening in the second set but without enough success or energy.
“I’m not mentally strong”
“Today in my mind, I was competing against my opponent and myself. It was difficult to control and there were a lot of emotions I couldn’t control.” Alcaraz later admitted this in a press conference.
At 21 years old, Alcaraz is eager to add new feats to his illustrious career. The player from El Palmar (Murcia) has the ability to win consecutive titles at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, a feat only achieved in the Open Era by his idol Rafael Nadal (2010) and the legendary Rod Laver (1969).
Instead, Alcaraz suffered his first second-round elimination at a Grand Slam since 2021 at Wimbledon, a night in which his extraordinary talent and competitive fire were lost.
“Mentally I am not good, I am not strong, I don’t know how to control myself when I encounter problems, that’s the problem”Alcaraz admitted.
After success at the French Open and Wimbledon, the former world number one suffered a crushing defeat to Djokovic in the Paris Olympic final and made his debut at the Cincinnati Masters 1000, where he was seen destroying his tennis racket for the first time in anger.
The Sinner’s Victory
Before Alcaraz went off, Sinner came out firing on Arthur Ashe Centre Court, sweeping 20-year-old American Alex Michelson, ranked 49th at the ATP, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.
The Italian dropped a set on his debut and this time he showed no mercy to Michelsen, whom he had already beaten on his way to the Cincinnati Masters 1000 title this month.
Sinner thus completed his 50th victory of the season, consolidating his position at the top of the tour, winning his first major trophy at the Australian Open, in addition to four other titles.
However, the top-ranked player had also just sparked tennis’ biggest scandal of the year by testing double positive for chlortetracycline in an anti-doping test.
The cases occurred in March but were kept secret until Sinner was acquitted last week after an investigation determined the positive results were the product of involuntary contamination.
Russian Daniil Medvedev was another player to reach the third round, defeating Hungarian Fabian Marozan 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
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In the women’s event, No. 1 Iga Swiatek defeated Japan’s Ena Shibahara (No. 217) in a near-perfect 6-0, 6-1 in 65 minutes.
The Polish star jumped onto Centre Court determined to make up for a dismal performance on Tuesday against Russian Kamila Rakhimova (79th), when she had to save three set points.
In the autumn tournament, 2018 and 2020 champion Naomi Osaka stood out, losing to last year’s semifinalist Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic with a score of 6-3 and 7-6 (7/5).
Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, ranked fourth in the world, withdrew due to physical problems shortly before her match against France’s Jessika Ponchet.
Another unexpected retirement came in Italy’s Jasmine Paolini’s match against former world number one Karolina Pliskova, who retired with a left ankle injury on the third point of the match.
AFP/HB
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