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Wimbledon champion and No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shocking loss against Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp in Round 2 of the ongoing US Open. The 21-year-old lost 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to world no. 74. With this loss he ended his 15-match winning streak in Grand Slam events ended. He never lost a match since 2021. He last lost a match against Daniil Medvedev.
Alcaraz lost in straight sets
In the opening set’s second game, both players engaged in lengthy rallies with impressive net play, lobs, and even a tweener shot. Van was able to capitalize on his chance to break Spainiard’s serve. He held his serve to take a 4-1 lead and managed to win the first set convincingly, 6-1. In the second set, Alcaraz showed a defensive display holding his serve. Van de Zandschulp did the same, but surprisingly Alcaraz despite his reputation and success was not able to intimidate the opponent with his game. Around 30 minutes into the match, Alcaraz finally managed to break Zandschulp’s serve to even the second set at 2-2. After a series of back-and-forth games, the game was poised at 5-5. However, he made three forehand errors and a double fault, which led to him losing the game. The Dutch clinched the second set by 7-5.
Going into the third set, Alcaraz made the same mistake by losing the lead going down by a serve after the score was 2-2. Van, however, could not consolidate the break and committed a double fault (his seventh of the match), allowing the 21-year-old to break the back. To level the set at 4-4, Van de served an ace and began putting pressure on the NO.3 seed player. Despite Alcaraz’s best attempt to make a comeback, the Dutch won the game set by 6-4.
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Van’s biggest win of his career
This was the biggest win of Van’s career. Alcaraz has at least reached the quarterfinals every year since his debut in 2021 but this was his most embarrassing defeat. Last year, he reached the semifinals as the top seed, becoming the youngest player to hold that position in the tournament’s history. Van de Zandschulp will now face Jack Draper from England, the No. 25 seed, who won his previous match in straight sets against Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta in the third round.
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