One of the frontrunners in men’s singles to win the 2024 U.S. Open has been knocked out in the second round.
Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz, winner of the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this year, was shockingly upset in the second round by the Netherlands’ Botic Van De Zandschulp in straight sets.
Van De Zandschulp, the 28-year-old from Wageningen, Netherlands, was only 87-83 in his career and 10-18 this year when he entered his match against Alcaraz after defeating Denis Shapovalov in the first round.
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But it was clear from the start of the match that Van De Zandschulp was not at all nervous to be facing Alcaraz, the 21-year-old, four-time Grand Slam champion.
Van De Zandschulp won the first set convincingly, 6-1, where Alcaraz airmailed a serve return over the baseline on triple set point.
From there, the Spaniard kicked it up a notch, but Van De Zandschulp was still able to win the set via tiebreak, 7-5, to put himself in the driver’s seat to pull off the major upset.
We’ve seen what Alcaraz can do with his back against the wall in the past, but Van De Zandschulp outlasted him yet again in the third set, finishing him off, 6-4, in front of a stunned New York City crowd.
Just like that, the No. 3-ranked men’s singles player in the tournament, and a large fan favorite, is out at the final Grand Slam of the year. Alcaraz had not lost at the U.S. Open before the quarterfinals in three previous appearances.
Alcaraz entered Thursday without losing in a Grand Slam in 15 matches. But, while Van De Zandschulp was exceptional, especially when the ball was on his forehand, it was a sloppy all-around performance by Alcaraz, who hurt himself too many times.
Van De Zandschulp has faced Alcaraz two previous times, both of which were won by the Spaniard. However, serves from the lanky Dutchman were overpowering Alcaraz as they reached 132 mph on the radar.
As Alcaraz looks back at the tape to figure out what went wrong, Van De Zandschulp will move on to the third round, where he’ll face another ranked opponent – No. 25 Jack Draper from Great Britain.
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