Carlos Alcaraz played a competitive singles match for the first time in more than four months and did not appear to miss a beat, prevailing 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 over Russia’s Roman Safiullin to begin his U.S. Open title defense Monday in New York.
Before the final Grand Slam of the season, the Spaniard hadn’t played since the ATP 500 event in Barcelona last April, where he injured his right wrist. Alcaraz missed the French Open and Wimbledon and only made his competitive return last week, when he teamed up with Serena Williams for the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament, where they won one match.
But the No. 2 seed needed a tidy two hours and 22 minutes on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to dispatch Safiullin and trumpet his return.
“It’s been a really tough five months for me, so to be able to step into Arthur Ashe and be able to compete again … As I said before the tournament, I couldn’t have decided to come back at a better tournament, here at the U.S. Open, here in New York,” Alcaraz said. “It’s a really special place for me, a special tournament for me.
“I tried to enjoy as much as I can. I missed the crowd, the energy. I missed the competition. I missed everything, so I’m just really happy I was able to compete again.”
He admitted that he had “some doubts” about his readiness for Grand Slam tennis after his recovery.
“I’ve been thinking about, ‘I’m going to last a match of best of five. I’m going to last playing four sets, five sets, I don’t know,'” he said. “… I was thinking, ‘Let’s see what is going to happen in the match.’ I’m just happy that I won in straight sets, another win, and physically I just played really well.”
Safiullin fired nine aces past Alcaraz, who managed two aces of his own amid five double faults. But he came through in the clutch by saving 5 of 6 break points while converting 4 of 7 opportunities to break Safiullin.
His second-round opponent will be Jaime Faria of Portugal, who beat Jenson Brooksby in five sets Sunday.
In a battle between red-hot players, No. 10 seed Arthur Fils of France became the highest-seeded man shown the door early in the tournament, as Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas prevailed 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-4.
Fils was playing his first match since he captured his first ATP Masters 1000 title earlier this month, when he defeated Frances Tiafoe in the final in Cincinnati. But Tsitsipas made for a tough first-round draw, as the former World No. 3 had won in Gstaad, Switzerland, in July after reaching the Round of 16 in the 1000-level event in Madrid.
Those successes were on clay, but Tsitsipas translated his game to the hard court Monday as he compiled 14 aces and 51 total winners to overcome 49 unforced errors.
“I am speechless, I don’t know what to say,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “It’s an amazing start to the tournament.”
No. 22 Valentin Vacherot of Monaco beat American foe Aleksandar Kovacevic in straight sets, while Russian 23rd seed Andrey Rublev rallied past lucky loser Otto Virtanen of Finland 6-7 (5), 6-7 (0), 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Rublev saved a match point in the 12th game of the fifth set and forced a tiebreaker, where he got out to a 6-2 lead before holding on.
Making his Grand Slam main-draw debut, Sebastian Gorzny stunned Belgium’s Raphael Collignon 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9). Gorzny — who earned a wild card into the main draw via the American Collegiate Player Wildcard Playoff — saved four match points in the 12th game of Set 5 to force the tiebreaker and a fifth match point when down 9-8.
No. 16 seed Brandon Nakashima needed 90 minutes to eliminate Argentina’s Sebastian Baz 6-2, 6-1, 6-0, while fellow American Alex Michelsen dropped Italy’s Federico Cina 6-4, 6-1, 6-0. Nakashima and Michelsen will collide in the second round.
No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, No. 8 seed Ben Shelton and the 11th-seeded Tiafoe are all in action Monday night.
–Field Level Media
