US Open: Alcaraz suffers shock loss to un-seeded Zandschulp

Carlos Alcaraz has suffered one of the biggest upsets in US Open after losing to Botic van de Zandschulp, reports www.totorinews.com.

Alcaraz, reigning Wimbledon champion, lost to the 74th-ranked Zandschulp in straight sets, 1-6, 5-6, 4-6, at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in on- going US Open tennis championships in New York on Friday.

The third seed, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, suffered a shock defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in the second round of the US Open 2024 men’s singles.

Alcaraz had made at least the quarter-finals in his three previous appearances in New York, and Thursday’s defeat was his earliest at a Grand Slam since a second-round exit at Wimbledon in 2021.

 

Alcaraz won the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July to raise his career total to four major championships, including taking the title at Flushing Meadows in 2022, and was the pre-tournament favorite to leave with the trophy again.

But he never found his footing against van de Zandschulp, a 28-year-old from the Netherlands. Alcaraz was way off, repeatedly missing the sorts of shots he usually makes routinely. After double-faulting to fall behind two sets to none — a deficit he’s never overcome — the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz slung his equipment bag over this shoulder and trudged toward the locker room.

The 21-year-old from Spain came in with a 16-2 record at the U.S. Open, where he never had been eliminated before the quarterfinals in three previous appearances. This also was Alcaraz’s earliest loss at any major tournament since bowing out in the second round of Wimbledon in 2021 as a teenager; he’s never lost in the first round at a Slam event.

Alcaraz said: “It was a fight against myself, in my mind during the match.

“In tennis, you are playing against someone that wants the same as you, to win the match, and you have to be as calm as you can just to think better in the match and try to do good things.

“Today I was playing against the opponent, and I was playing against myself. I mean, I had a lot of emotions that I couldn’t control.

“The tennis schedule is so tight. I’ve been playing a lot of matches lately, you know, with Roland Garros, with Wimbledon, Olympic Games.