![[original_title]](https://rawnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/untitled-design-2024-08-29t213842-709-1024x576.png)
Unseeded Botic van de Zandschulp upset world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4, through the second spherical of the 2024 US Open Thursday night time at Flushing Meadows. The heavy favourite had a shaky begin, and whereas he did combat again he didn’t seem prepared for the powerful psychological and bodily battle on this night time.
At 28 years previous, van de Zandschulp has been contemplating retiring as a result of he hasn’t performed properly recently. In the meantime, 21-year-old Alcaraz had gained 43 of his final 46 main matches, together with the championship matches on the French Open and Wimbledon. However none of that mattered on Thursday.
“I do not know what to say proper now,” stated a shocked Alcaraz after the loss. “Initially he performed nice. He performed actually good tennis. I assumed he would give me extra free factors. He did not make loads of errors that I assumed he was going to make. It was complicated a bit. I did not know tips on how to handle that, how take care of it.
“I could not enhance my degree. I feel my degree stayed the identical the entire match,” the Spaniard continued. “It wasn’t sufficient to win the match or to provide myself the possibility to get into the match, or attempt to give myself probabilities. What can I say? I did not really feel properly hitting the ball. I made loads of errors. Once I needed to come back again it was too late.”
van de Zandschulp gave the impression to be simply as shocked as everybody else. “I am a bit bit misplaced for phrases,” he stated in his post-match interview, “however it has been an unbelievable night right here.”
This was his first ever win towards a high 10 opponent in a Grand Slam, and possibly one of many largest upsets in tennis historical past.
It solely took Botic van de Zandschulp 31 minutes to win the primary set 6-1. The stats had been displayed at Arthur Ashe Stadium and Alcaraz checked out them in disbelief. He did not get a single winner and had eight unforced errors.
Alcaraz began trying higher, however van de Zandschulp continued enjoying at a excessive degree and got here out on high after an hour-long second set. After dropping that one, Alcaraz left the court docket to attempt to reset whereas trying like his head wasn’t fairly in it.
The loss was Alcaraz’s third setback within the month of August following defeats within the Cincinnati Open to Gael Monfils on Aug. 15 and the Olympic gold medal match to Novak Djokovic in Paris on Aug. 4. After the match, he was requested if he thought that fatigue may even have performed a job.
“Most likely, yeah,” he stated. “The tennis schedule is so tight. I have been enjoying loads of matches recently with Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Olympic Video games. I took a bit break after the Olympic Video games. I assumed it was sufficient … Most likely it wasn’t sufficient … However I do not wish to use that as an excuse.”
Alcaraz is understood for his athleticism and artistic pictures, and going ahead he stated he might want to consider whether or not he must take extra break day heading into majors. Regardless, van de Zandschulp’s matched Alcaraz’s power all night time lengthy.
It regarded just like the break Alcaraz took helped him regain some composure. When he tied the third set 3-3, the group cheered loudly for him and his signature smile began returning to his face and he gained the subsequent recreation. It appeared he may probably flip issues round, however van de Zandschulp had different plans.
He hit the quickest serve of the match at 132 mph when he acquired the ace that tied issues up once more at 4-4. The group began the match favoring Alcaraz, however by the tip of the night time they had been additionally exhibiting loads of love for the Dutch participant. In complete, van de Zandschulp wanted solely two hours and 21 minutes.
The furthest a Dutch participant has ever superior in a serious was the quarterfinals within the 2021 US Open. van de Zandschulp will now attempt to take the subsequent step towards No. 25 seed Jack Draper within the third spherical.
