With more setbacks than expected, Carlos Alcaraz began his journey this Tuesday at the Open de USA beat the Australian Read You by 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-1 in two hours and 42 minutes.
The Spaniard and world number 3 did not have his best performance against a Tu who occupies the 186th place in the ATP ranking, who reached the main draw in the previous rounds and who had never played before in the “big” New York club.
But after losing the second set and getting stuck in a very thick part of his tennis, Alcaraz knew how to react so that the fear does not turn into disaster.
The Murcian will face the Dutchman in the next round Bottic of De Zandschulp (n.74), who beat the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (n.105) by 6-4, 7-5 and 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.
Alcaraz was measured twice with Van De Zandschulp (Australian Open 2021 and Basel 2022) and in both cases he won.
On his return to Big Applewhere he achieved the first of his four Grand Slams in 2022, Alcaraz faces a major challenge: conquering Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year, which in the it was open Only Rod Laver (1969) and Nadal (2010) have achieved this.
Reaction in time
You aimed to be a suitable rival for Alcaraz to pick up the pace and regain confidence, especially after two recent intense episodes: the silver at Paris 2024, which left him emotionally affected by the lost opportunity to win gold; and the first-round elimination in Cincinnati that ended with his racket furiously smashed to the ground.
In addition, on Saturday he sprained his ankle without major consequences in training, so the duel against the Australian should also serve as a physical test.
With all this, Alcaraz It started at full speed.
Very aggressive with his rest, he squeezes Tu almost before leaving the locker room and signs a to break empty to start the game. It gust of wind continued in the First of all together and in less than nine minutes they were already winning 3-0 after two breaks in their favor.
Alcaraz stood out in every way: mobility on the court, dominance from the baseline, success all the way to the net, inaccessible service…
…and Tu, who seemed very inferior, gave up the first round in 29 minutes and almost without complaining.
With Garbiñe Muguruza among the star guests in the stands, Tu got rid of his nerves in the second round, started hitting with more ease and the night changed completely.
It seemed that Alcaraz had everything on track with a to break and 4-3, but Tu gave the break back and it just grew and grew as Arthur Ashe got hot when she realised she had started.
Then came Alcaraz’s most questionable moments: no first serves were coming, he found himself tangled in multiple double faults and seemed somewhere between distracted and absent.
The complete opposite of you who seemed to be living a dream. He Australianalmost recklessly, he played shots on the edge that suddenly arrived and he ended up hitting the jackpot: he lost four set points on the rest, but in the fifth he leveled the match with a backhand down the line.
It was time for Alcaraz to put on his helmet and suit, and it took him some time to regain his feeling and get back to his starting level as the third set started on a similar note.
But with some terrific rights and a scream of rage to celebrate, it went 4-3 and to break in favor in the third round, he closed the set in his favor and all the pieces finally started to rearrange themselves.
“I was surprised”
From there, everything went well. Alcaraz saved the solidity and firmness of his game, Tu collapsed physically and the Spaniard, now with all the doubts behind him, got his ticket to the second round.
“I was a little surprised,” he admitted about Tu’s level at the end of the match.
“It was obvious that he was nervous at the beginning of the match, but after the first set he grew up, he started to enjoy it and play good tennis,” praised a Alcaraz who admitted to having made “mistakes” that he should not have made and also said that he would now closely follow the Australian’s matches and results.
On the other hand, he was delighted to return to new Yorkwhere he always had a very special connection with this big more dedicated to the spectacle and the festive atmosphere than to the most rigorous and formal codes of classic tennis.
“It’s an honour to come back on this court, to try to play good tennis and make people enjoy it. I’m very happy,” he said.
