If Carlos Alcaraz was surprised by the resistance he faced in the first round, he has to be downright shocked now.
The 2022 U.S. Open champion, considered the world’s next great tennis star and the betting favorite in Flushing, was stunningly ousted Thursday night by unseeded Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
The third-seed Alcaraz — who had his 15-match grand slam winning streak snapped — was overwhelmed by van de Zandschulp; who entered the match with a 12-18 singles record this year; who had a lifetime 5-13 mark against top-10 players; who had advanced past the fourth round of a grand slam just once (the 2021 U.S. Open quarterfinals).
That year, he became just the third qualifier to reach the tournament’s quarterfinals, before being eliminated by eventual champion Daniil Medvedev.
“I don’t know what to say right now. I mean, first of all, I think he played great,” Alcaraz said after his 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 loss at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I thought he was going to give me more points. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes that I thought he was going to [make]. 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.”
Looking to become just the third player to win the U.S. Open, French Open and Wimbledon in the same calendar year, Alcaraz was easily dispatched by van de Zandschulp.
He was outplayed from the baseline.
He was outplayed at the net.
Van de Zandschulp, the 74th ranked player in the world, even got the better of Alcaraz when it came to his patented drop shot.
He dominated the first set — van de Zandschulp won 24 of 37 points — and won the key points in the latter two as well.
“Actually, I’m a little bit [at a] loss for words,” the big-serving van de Zandschulp said in his on-court interview. “It’s been an incredible evening; first time for the night sessions at Arthur Ashe. Unbelievable night.”
The second-round exit is the usually dazzling Alcaraz’s earliest in a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2021 — his first year on the ATP Tour.
It snapped a streak of seven straight major quarterfinal appearances, four in which Alcaraz was the last man standing.
The 21-year-old Spaniard had never departed this tournament so early, winning it in 2022, reaching the quarterfinals in 2021 and the semifinals last year.
The last two years, the 28-year-old van de Zandschulp failed to win more than two singles matches at any single Grand Slam.
Now, he’s into the third round in Queens after the biggest win of his career, and he will meet No. 25 Jack Draper of Britain next.
Van de Zandschulp broke Alcaraz’s serve six times — twice in the third set — and closed out the one-sided match on his serve at love.
He hardly showed any emotion after the upset, meeting his opponent at the net but reacting stoically to the moment.
He was the better player, winning 28 of 35 points at the net while Alcaraz had more unforced errors (27) than winners (21).
“Today, I was playing against the opponent, and I was playing against myself in my mind,” Alcaraz said. “I mean, a lot of emotions that I couldn’t control.”
