U.S. Open Day Four Recap: Van De Zandschulp Stuns Alcaraz
You never know what’s going to happen during Night Sessions in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
And on Thursday night, the U.S. Open delivered another plot twist, as 2022 champion and the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, Carlos Alcaraz, saw his bid for a second U.S. Open crown end rather abruptly.
Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp won the match of his life as he defeated Alcaraz in straight sets 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the third round, and win his second-straight ATP Tour level match for just the first time in a year.
“I’m a little bit lost for words,” he said afterwards. “It’s been an incredible evening, the first night session for me on Arthur Ashe. The crowd was amazing. I got a lot of confidence from my last match. I played really solid and from point one tonight, I believed I could have a chance and you see how it sometimes turns out.”
Alcaraz was off from the start and his Dutch opponent took full advantage, breaking early in the opening set and running away with the 6-1 victory.
It looked as if Alcaraz would respond as expected as he broke in the second set. But an error filled evening for the Spaniard continued, as he was broken back, and then broken again at 5-5 in the second, with van de Zandschulp calmly serving it out to take the commanding two-sets-to-love lead.
Even then, there was the thought that Alcaraz had something special in store for the New York crowd, a sentiment that his opponent admitted to contemplating.
“Yeah, you’re going to think every time—when I won the first set, for example, you’re going to think, like, he’s coming up with up with a different level,” said van de Zandschulp. “I actually broke him already quite soon in the second set. Got broken back. Then it went down to 5-All. Yeah, I served it out pretty good. Then in the third, even in the third, you’re thinking, like, he’s going to come up with something special.”
He would break early in the third set only to see Alcaraz respond in kind to even things up, and the 2022 champion tried his best to engage the eager U.S. Open audience. But there would be no comeback, as van de Zandschulp broke Alcaraz yet again at 4-4 in the third, and proceeded to serve out the match to secure the definitive win of his career.
“I don’t know what to say right now. First of all, I think he played great. He played really good tennis,” Alcaraz said. “I thought he was going to give me more points. I’m going to say more free points. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes that I thought he was going to do. So I was confused a little bit. I didn’t know how to manage that, how to deal with it. I couldn’t increase my level.
“I think my level stayed at the same point all the match, and it wasn’t enough to win the match or to give myself the chance to get into the match or try to give myself chances. So what can I say?”
It’s the earliest loss at a major for Alcaraz since 2021 Wimbledon when he fell to Daniil Medvedev. In all, he committed 27 unforced errors in the match and never found his footing.
The 28-year-old van de Zandschulp made a point to be aggressive throughout, something he said his coach recommended, and served extremely well throughout the match.
“Of course I had some nerves. But if you want to beat one of these guys to have to be unbelievably calm and keep your head there, otherwise they will take advantage,” he said.
He now moves into the third-round and a matchup with 25th seed Jack Draper of Great Britain. Draper defeated Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
