NEW YORK: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz didn\u2019t miss a beat as he returned from a four-month injury absence with a straight-sets first-round victory in the US Open on Monday. Out of action with a wrist injury since April, Alcaraz passed his first test with flying colors, beating Russian Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where women\u2019s defending champion Aryna Sabalenka also made it safely into the second round.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a really tough five months for me,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cBeing able to step on the Arthur Ashe, being able to compete again, I couldn\u2019t decide to come back in a better tournament. It\u2019s a really special place for me. \u201cI tried to enjoy as much as I can. I missed the crowd, I missed the energy, I missed competition. I missed everything.\u201d Alcaraz is trying to bookend his season with major titles after his Australian Open triumph in January made him the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. Monday\u2019s performance might not have been peak Alcaraz, but the seven-time Grand Slam champion unleashed his powerful forehand with increasing confidence and displayed his familiar touch at the net.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the level of tennis is going to be better for sure,\u201d said Alcaraz, who said he was most proud that he was able to quell his own doubts about his fitness. \u201cI tried to forget everything, I tried to enjoy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz\u2019s smooth progress into the second round came less than 24 hours after an ailing Novak Djokovic suffered his earliest Grand Slam exit in 20 years, falling in five brutal sets to Mariano Navone. The tournament was already missing top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who has a knee injury, and Djokovic\u2019s exit removed another possible obstacle for Alcaraz, who could have met the Serb in the semi-finals. Sabalenka\u2019s bid for a rare US Open three-peat comes during a worrying drop in form, but the Belarusian star rose to the occasion in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Camila Osorio. She was slowed by 23 unforced errors but belted 32 winners to more than compensate, her thunderous groundstrokes proving enough to see off a counter-punching opponent who stepped up her game in the second set. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cShe brought the fight,\u201d Sabalenka said. \u201cShe battled really well and I just tried to stay as aggressive as possible. \u201cI think I played great. She\u2019s a tough opponent, makes you work really hard to get every point, so I\u2019m happy that I was able to close the match in straight sets,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka hasn\u2019t reached a final since capturing the prestigious \u201cSunshine Double\u201d of Indian Wells and Miami in March. Japan\u2019s Naomi Osaka was forced to dig deep before overcoming Russian first-round opponent Anastasia Zakharova 7-6 (8\/6), 7-6 (7\/3) in just over two hours in a late night duel.<\/p>\n
Poland\u2019s six-time Grand Slam singles champion Iga Swiatek sailed into the second round with a straight-sets victory over China\u2019s Wang Xiyu. Eighth-seeded Swiatek, who defeated Sabalenka on the way to her lone US Open triumph in 2022, eased past Wang 6-2, 6-3 in 1hr 28min.<\/p>\n
Frenchman Arthur Fils, flying high after his first ATP Masters title in Cincinnati, was brought back to earth by Greece\u2019s Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6, 7-6 (7\/3), 6-1, 6-4. Tsitsipas bagged his first win over 22-year-old Fils in six encounters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am speechless, I don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d said Tsitsipas, a former top five player who has slumped to 53 in the world. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing start to the tournament.\u201d Canadian third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime also advanced, defeating Australia\u2019s Rinky Hijikata 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.<\/p>\n
American eighth seed Ben Shelton overcame a rocky start before booking his place in the second round with a 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7\/3), 6-2 defeat of the Netherlands\u2019 Tallon Griekspoor in the night match on Arthur Ashe. Shelton looked out of sorts as Griekspoor roared through the first set with three breaks of serve but turned the tables to win in 2hr 35min. \u201cStarted off with a little bit of nerves tonight, but I found my rhythm,\u201d Shelton said. Top-seeded German, Alexander Zverev, will begin his campaign on Tuesday. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz didn\u2019t miss a beat as he returned from a four-month injury absence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[375,271,2303,2302,2265,463,3612],"class_list":["post-62453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carlos-alcaraz","tag-alcaraz","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-kuwait-news","tag-kuwait-times","tag-sabalenka","tag-us-open","tag-winning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}