- No 3 seed has 15-match grand slam streak broken in 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 defeat
- 21-year-old had not lost before quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows
As Carlos Alcaraz sat down in his chair after 90 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium, he looked completely perplexed. Alcaraz was not merely having a bad day at the office, he had been utterly horrendous. For nearly two sets, unforced errors had flowed freely from his racket and he did not know how to stop them. A few minutes later, Botic van de Zandschulp held serve to establish a two sets to love lead.
Even as the match rapidly fell away from the No 3 seed, Alcaraz was still the favourite to win, still expected to somehow find a way through as the greatest players always do. But for once in the 21-year-old’s prodigious career, the well had run dry. His inconsistency sharply contrasted with an extremely solid van de Zandschulp and at the end of an electric night the Dutchman pulled off one of the biggest grand slam upsets in recent years by toppling Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the US Open.