Third-seeded Carlos Alcaraz was dramatically knocked out of the second round of the US Open by a crushing defeat against unseeded Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
Alcaraz hoped to become the third player in history, after Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal, to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same calendar year.
But the Spaniard never recovered from a difficult start against world number 74 Van de Zandschulp, who triumphed 6-1 7-5 6-4 to record the highest possible victory of his career.
The defeat ends Alcaraz’s streak of 15 Grand Slam matches won.
“I think I made a lot of mistakes and when I wanted to come back it was too late,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
The 21-year-old, who made 27 unforced errors, added that he “didn’t feel good hitting the ball”.
“He didn’t make a lot of mistakes that I thought he would make, so I was a little confused,” Alcaraz said. “I didn’t know how to handle that.”
Earlier, world number one Jannik Sinner defeated American Alex Michelsen 6-4 6-0 6-2 to achieve his 50th victory of the year.
Australian Open champion Sinner is playing his first tournament since it was announced he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after testing positive twice for a banned substance earlier this year.
The crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium couldn’t believe it when Van de Zandschulp lost just one game on his way to winning the first set.
The lacklustre Alcaraz appeared to have found his rhythm after making a break early in the second set, but at 5-5 he lost serve again before his Dutch opponent doubled his lead.
The three-time major winner appeared bewildered as he left the court for a timeout, pointing a finger at his player’s penalty area and shaking his head.
Alcaraz was able to smile again when he broke back and tied the third set at 3-3. Van de Zandschulp, however, continued to deliver great winning shots and ensured the decisive break at 5-4, before sealing the victory with a clinical love hold.
“I am speechless for a moment, it was an incredible evening for me,” said Van de Zandschulp, who reached the quarter-finals in New York in 2021.
“I think from point one I believed here today [I had] a chance.”
The 28-year-old will face British number one Jack Draper in the third round.
Sinner easily reaches third round
Sinner struggled in the first round against American Mackenzie McDonald on Tuesday and lost the first set, but recovered to win 2-6 6-2 6-1 6-2 in Flushing Meadows.
Against Michelsen on Thursday he had no problems. After taking the lead with multiple breaks in the first set, Sinner never looked back and took a dominant victory in one hour and 39 minutes.
“[I’m] “I’m very happy,” said Sinner, who defeated world No. 49 Michelsen in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month.
“He’s a very tough opponent. We played each other a week ago in Cincinnati. I knew what to expect, he kind of knew what to expect.”
The 23-year-old will play Australian Chris O’Connell in the third round in New York.
Elsewhere, fifth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev thrilled the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium with a 6-3 6-2 7-6 (7-5) victory over Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.
“During today’s match I felt like I was in an Italian restaurant, it was so noisy,” Medvedev said in an interview on the pitch at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Hubert Hurkacz was knocked out 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 7-5 by Australian Jordan Thompson.
It is the sixth year in a row that Poland’s Hurkacz has been knocked out in the second round of the US Open.
Soon another seeded American, Seb Korda, who was seeded 16th, fell 6-4 6-2 6-4 to Czech Tomas Machac, who will face Belgian David Goffin in the third round.
Also the Frenchman Arthur Fils, the 24th seed, booked a surprise. He was defeated 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-4 by the number 143 of the world, Gabriel Diallo from Canada.
But tenth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur had more luck, beating Finn Otto Virtanen 7-5 6-1 7-6 (7-3) to advance to the third round to face Britain’s Dan Evans.
American Tommy Paul, seeded 14th, came through after Australian opponent Max Purcell retired in the third set, with Paul leading 7-5 6-0 1-0.
Analysis
Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent
This was a surprising upset, achieved with great aplomb by a Dutchman who was still considering quitting, as happened this year during Roland Garros.
That was only Van de Zandschulp’s 13th tour-level victory in the eight-month season, and he outscored the world number three throughout the race.
Alcaraz was a shadow of the man who won both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He also played in the gold medal match at the Paris Olympics, and even 21-year-olds are allowed to hit the wall.
A series of upsets in this part of the tournament means that someone will play in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time at this US Open.
The chance falls to Van de Zandschulp and his third round opponent Jack Draper, along with tenth-seeded Alex de Minaur, Matteo Arnaldi and unseeded Dan Evans, David Goffin, Tomas Machac and Jordan Thompson.
