New York (AFP) – Carlos Alcaraz made a flying start to his US Open title defense on Monday, overcoming nerves after a lengthy layoff due to injury and defeating Russia’s Roman Safiullin in straight sets. The Spaniard felt “really really nervous” Monday morning before taking Arthur Ashe stadium for his first round match, but never looked threatened as he prevailed over Safiullin, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Alcaraz told a courtside interviewer he was thrilled to be back in New York, where he won his first of seven Grand Slams. He revealed no lingering effects from a wrist injury that kept him out of the last two Grand Slams. “I missed the crowd, I missed the energy, I missed competition, I missed everything,” he said. “I’m really happy to compete again.”
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A powerful baseliner with a prior win over Alcaraz, Safiullin kept close in all three sets but never looked likely to threaten the Spaniard. The match was even at 3-3 when Alcaraz snagged a break with a big forehand, the signature weapon he used to take control of many of the longer rallies. Safiullin broke early in the second set, but Alcaraz, moving well and breaking up rallies with surprise drop shots and occasional serve-and-volley plays, quickly broke back and broke again. He broke early in the third set and never looked back.
Alcaraz described the experience as a “difficult day” but “at the same time, a really beautiful one.” “It’s kind of I forgot how match day looks like,” he said. “You know, I was warming up, and I don’t remember actually what I used to do, you know, in the warm-up.”
After winning his opening match in Barcelona in April, Alcaraz withdrew from the tournament due to the wrist injury, which also kept him from the French Open and Wimbledon. But Alcaraz played “pain-free” on Monday. “I don’t know how it looked from the outside … but my feeling was I was hitting normal,” Alcaraz said. “I was playing normal, playing my style, and the arm, the wrist, everything, you know, felt great.”
A two-time winner in New York, Alcaraz is customarily at the top of the list of favorites in the game’s biggest events. But the Spaniard’s prospects looked uncertain when he pulled out of the Cincinnati warmup event, opting to make his return to play at a Grand Slam with best of five set matches. His win Monday came after four-time US Open champion Novak Djokovic, seeded fourth this year, lost late Sunday night in a marathon, five-set upset to Argentine Mariano Navone in his earliest Grand Slam exit in 20 years.
Alcaraz described Djokovic’s defeat as “a big surprise.” The two were seeded to potentially meet in the semis. “As you say, he was in my part of the draw but it was in the semis,” Alcaraz said. “For me, the semis is too far away, so I just try to be round by round.”
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