By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK —
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, Alcaraz tried to look at the positives. After missing four months with a right wrist injury, the extra work might help.
“I wanted to be quick, to be honest. I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said. “But at the end, I realized that just playing four sets, it was really good for me to test everything physically, to test my body, how I feel, and tomorrow how I’m going to feel after this match.”
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 dropped his serve midway through 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.
The 23-year-old 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.
But after missing the French Open and Wimbledon during his absence, even Alcaraz said he didn’t know what to expect in Flushing Meadows, where he won his first major title in 2022 at 19.
Daniil Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion the year before that, said a player of Alcaraz’s caliber is always a top contender any time he is in the field.
“We have no idea how Carlos’ wrist is going to feel, body is going to feel going later into the tournament, but he’s definitely a top favorite for the title,” Medvedev said.
Faria, three months younger than Alcaraz, broke for a 4-3 lead in the first set and used a powerful serve to stay ahead. Alcaraz felt after getting broken that he was rushing too much.
“After that I just wanted to play short points, which was a mistake for me,” he said. “I just needed to play patient, to play long rallies, three, four, five shots, and then go for it.”
Alcaraz stressed again that he is no longer in pain and has been hitting his forehand without any restrictions in practice.
“I know once I step on the court, I’ve just got to go for it every time. I’ve got to feel normal,” Alcaraz said. “I have to hit like I was hitting before the injury, and let’s see what happens after that.
“I’m just feeling great,” he added. “There is no reason to be afraid and not hitting normal.”
SABALENKA FEELING BETTER
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.
“Happy with the level I played today, happy with the focus and happy to be through this match,” Sabalenka said.
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.
She 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, against an opponent who is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament.
“I think I struggled a little bit in the middle of the season. Once again, I’m not going to defend myself or explain why, what happened, but I’m happy with my level,” Sabalenka said. “I can definitely say that mentally I’m way stronger than I was in the middle of the season, and physically I also feel stronger. So I feel like I’m on my level of play.”
SHELTON, TIAFOE, MEDVEDEV ADVANCE
Eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton beat Hubert Hurkacz, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
As the hard-court Slams go, Shelton has reached the third round at eight straight majors, advancing past that stage once in his U.S. Open career, when he made the semifinals in 2023.
“I think being battle-tested is great,” Shelton, who also went four sets in the opening round, said of being pushed early in the tournament. “I don’t think you want to be playing five-setters all the time. Maybe I could have won this match more efficiently today, but I thought that, you know, a lot of it was just credit to him and the level that he started to bring. I think that had I not got pushed the way he pushed me today, there are so many things that I’ve wanted to clean up over the last couple of days that naturally came out and continued to improve throughout the match.
“Playing a match like that definitely, you know, benefits me moving forward.”
Shelton was later joined in the third round by fellow Americans Frances Tiafoe, the No. 11 seed who beat Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-5, in the night session at Louis Armstrong Stadium, and No. 20 Tommy Paul, who got past Dino Prizmic in four sets.
Tiafoe has now reached the third round or better at seven straight U.S. Opens, the longest active streak among men.
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 and Louis Armstrong to continue uninterrupted.
No. 7 seed 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.
“This would be definitely in the top five,” Medvedev said in response to a question about unusual episodes he has had at Flushing Meadows. “But the thing is that when they came in, I thought, okay, the referee is going to stop the point, and he let it play, like, Okay, let’s play. And the moment I hit the winner, he was, like, Stop, stop, stop.
“It’s okay. It happens.”
Those are second-round matches, while some players were still playing their first. When the tournament 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 cooperated.
It hadn’t.
Sixth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur said with all the juggling his match was moved twice from the court where he was originally scheduled. He finally started his tournament 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.”
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 Yunchaokete Bu 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. The first round was finally completed Wednesday night.
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.
Also on Wednesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Lloyd Harris, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4, to reach the third round of a Slam for the first time since the 2024 French Open, and the first time at the U.S. Open since 2021.
Tsitsipas will look to reach the second week at Flushing Meadows for the first time when he takes on Jiri Lehecka on Friday.
Argentina’s Mariano Navone backed up his upset of Novak Djokovic by beating Matteo Berrettini, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
PEGULA KEEPS IT QUICK
Jessica Pegula needed only 56 minutes to defeat Sofia Kenin, 6-3, 6-1. Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, beat Venus Williams in her first match.
“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.”
It was Pegula’s 31st hard-court match win this season, breaking a tie with Elena Rybakina for the most by any player on the women’s tour. Overall, Pegula has won 47 matches in 2026, tied with Alexander Zverev for the most by any player on either tour.
Later Wednesday, No. 26 Emma Navarro rallied past Caty McNally, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, in an all-American second round. It was Navarro’s first win at the U.S. Open when dropping the first set (she had been 0-3).
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.”
Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova and runner-up Karolina Muchova advanced to the third round, while No. 11 Marta Kostyuk got past 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens, 6-1, 7-5.
No. 31 seed Leylah Fernandez set up a matchup of past U.S. Open runners-up against Pegula, with the winner to meet either No. 16 Sorana Cirstea or No. 19 Jasmine Paolini.