Carlos Alcaraz recovered from a sluggish start to power into the third round of the US Open on Wednesday, while defending champion Aryna Sabalenka cruised through as a host of leading contenders advanced.
Spain’s Alcaraz, seeded second and playing his first tournament since a wrist injury sidelined him in April, overcame an early scare to beat Portugal’s 72nd-ranked Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.
Alcaraz won his seventh Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January but arrived in New York with questions over his fitness after the wrist injury forced him to miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon during a four-month layoff.
He eased through his opening match against Roman Safiullin in straight sets but initially struggled to find his range against the big-serving Faria.
Faria secured the first break of the match for a 4-3 lead when Alcaraz misfired on a forehand, then held his nerve to take the opening set.
But Alcaraz raised his intensity in the second set, while Faria struggled to withstand the pressure as the Spaniard raced through the next three sets.
“Tough match for me,” Alcaraz said, acknowledging that he briefly lost his composure after failing to convert an early break point.
“After that I was in a rush. I didn’t take time, I wasn’t patient and that obviously cost me the break,” he said. “I tried to stay calm … think good things are going to happen again.”
Sabalenka ruthless
Sabalenka, meanwhile, took another step towards a rare US Open hat-trick with a ruthless 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Russian qualifier Polina Iatcenko in just 53 minutes.
The world number one, who has not won a title since completing the Indian Wells-Miami double in March, fired 24 winners as she dominated from the baseline while also displaying a deft touch at the net.
She dropped just four points on serve in the opening set and was broken only once in the second, allowing Iatcenko to claim her sole game of the set. Sabalenka immediately responded by winning the next three games to seal the victory.
“Happy with the level I played today, happy with the focus,” Sabalenka said.
She will face Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the third round for a place in the last 16.
Pegula, Medvedev advance
World number three Jessica Pegula and former champion Daniil Medvedev also booked their places in the third round.
Pegula needed just 56 minutes to dispatch former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, now ranked 110th, 6-3, 6-1.
The American dropped only seven points on serve and remains among three players who could replace Sabalenka at the top of the rankings in New York.
“I was just trying to stay focused on what I needed to do,” said Pegula, the 2024 US Open runner-up.
She will next face former finalist Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who defeated Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1.
Seventh-seeded Medvedev, meanwhile, beat American wild card Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 6-3, 7-5.
The Russian, who had struggled during the hard-court events leading into the year’s final Grand Slam, dominated the 731st-ranked American.
Battle to the end
Eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton survived a tense “battle to the end” against former world number six Hubert Hurkacz, winning 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.
His compatriot Frances Tiafoe, seeded 11th, also advanced after overcoming Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 7-5.
But another American contender, in-form 16th seed Brandon Nakashima, exited after being beaten by compatriot Alex Michelsen 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Argentina’s Mariano Navone followed up his stunning five-set upset of Serbian star Novak Djokovic by defeating Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Rain disrupts play
Rain once again disrupted action outside the covered Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums.
Sixth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur finally began his campaign after his first-round match was postponed from Tuesday, but another mid-match rain delay interrupted his progress.
He eventually completed a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Italy’s Andrea Guerrieri.
Lucky loser Bu Yunchaokete of China produced another first-round upset, crushing 12th-seeded Spaniard Rafael Jodar 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.
Jodar committed 37 unforced errors against just 15 winners in a disappointing defeat for the 19-year-old, who won the ATP title in Marrakech this year and reached the final in Washington and the semi-finals in Montreal in recent weeks.
AFP
