Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in action during his second round match against Portugal's Jaime Faria at the U.S. Open on Wednesday.Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Carlos Alcaraz was already in the final by the time he dropped a set last year in the U.S. Open.
When it happened in his second match this year, he didn’t look back.
The defending champion rebounded from a quick deficit by winning eight straight games and beat Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday night.
The No. 2-seeded Alcaraz, in his second match back after missing four months with a right wrist injury , dropped his serve in the first set but soon was back to playing long stretches of flawless tennis.
“After that I just tried to be focused, tried to stay calm and I’m thinking that good things are going to happen again,” Alcaraz said.
He didn’t drop a set last year until the final against Jannik Sinner, becoming the first man since Roger Federer in 2015 to go through his first six matches without doing so. He then beat Sinner in four sets for his second U.S. Open title.
Alcaraz then picked up his seventh major title at this year’s Australian Open and is on a 16-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments.
Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka returns a forehand against Russia's Polina Iatcenko during their women's singles second round match on Day 4 of the U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images
Sabalenka powers her way into the third round in just 53 minutes
Aryna Sabalenka came to the U.S. Open struggling and in danger of losing the No. 1 ranking.
She heads to the third round looking every bit ready for a three-peat.
The top-seeded Sabalenka overwhelmed Polina Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes on Wednesday night, putting on a power-hitting display that made it seem her recent problems are in the past.
Sabalenka won 15 of 16 points on first serve in the first set and only dropped off a little in the second, finishing 21 for 28 in the match.
Sabalenka is trying to become the first player to win three in a row in Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams from 2012-14, but arrived after losing in the fourth round of her past three tournaments. She needs help to stay atop the WTA rankings even if she wins the title.
But she made it clear if she loses the top spot, it won’t be without a fight.
“Happy with the level I played today, happy with the focus and happy to be through this match,” she said.
Jessica Pegula was also quickly into the third round at a rainy U.S. Open where some players were still playing their first- round matches.
The No. 3 seed needed only 56 minutes on Wednesday to defeat Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1. Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, beat Venus Williams in her first match.
Jessica Pegula, of the United States, gestures after her win over Sofia Kenin, of the United States, during the second round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday in New York.Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press
“To be out of there in under an hour, it doesn’t always happen,” Pegula said. “So I think I’m just going to take that one and run, I guess, until the next round.”
Some players won’t get there for a while. With rain coming down for a second day in New York, play was suspended again for a time on outside courts, allowing only play under the roofs in Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium to continue uninterrupted.
No. 8 seed Ben Shelton followed Pegula on Ashe and beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5, while No. 7 Daniil Medvedev raced past Sebastian Gorzny – except for a brief delay to protest the chair umpire’s decision to replay a point when two birds sat on the net – 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was set to follow Sabalenka on Ashe.
A three-day first round stretches into a fourth
When the U.S. Open switched to a Sunday start last year, it spread out the first round over the first three days, so Wednesday would have arrived with everyone playing in the second round had the weather co-operated.
It hadn’t.
Alex de Minaur, the No. 6 seed from Australia, said with all the juggling, his match was moved twice from the court where he was originally scheduled. He finally started his U.S. Open on Wednesday on Court 11 and beat Italy’s Andrea Guerrieri 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.
“It’s been a couple tough days. But I mean, these tournaments, it’s all about adapting and that’s the name of the game,” de Minaur said. “There’s too much to play for to let something like this affect you.”
Daniil Medvedev, of Russia, left, talks with the official during his second round match against Sebastian Gorzny, of the United States, at the U.S. Open on Wednesday in New York.Yuki Iwamura/The Associated Press
Paula Badosa said she didn’t even know how to prepare for the resumption of her match against Daria Kasatkina, which was halted Tuesday with her one game from winning to set up a second-round match against No. 4 Coco Gauff.
“I didn’t know if I was going to play just two points or six, or I don’t know how much, how many I play or one more set,” the Spaniard said Wednesday after finishing off her 6-1, 6-4 victory.
“So I knew that if I was winning this match, I’m playing the next day. So, yeah, it was everything a bit different. I was very nervous that I even couldn’t eat, so a lot of different stuff I did today, but sometimes it is how it is, and I tried to play with the things I had there.”
At least she got through. No. 12 Rafael Jodar, the 19-year-old from Spain who came in after a strong summer, was routed 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 by Bu Yunchaokete of China when his first-round match was finally completed.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy because I was waiting a lot yesterday and today as well, but it is what it is,” Jodar said. “We cannot control the rain, so it’s difficult for both players.”
The tournament was trying to catch up from Tuesday’s rain delays, with 25 singles matches being played on the men’s side alone.
Alex Michelsen pulled off an upset in one of them by ousting fellow American Brandon Nakashima, the No. 16 seed, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
No. 7 Karolina Muchova, the Wimbledon runner-up, beat Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-0 to reach the third round, while No. 11 Marta Kostyuk got past 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-5.