By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz was nervous. He was excited. Best of all, he was pain-free.
Alcaraz beat Roman Safiullin, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, on Monday afternoon, showing no problems with the right wrist injury that had sidelined the 23-year-old Spaniard since April.
“I don’t know how it looked from outside, but from inside, my feeling was that I was hitting normal,” Alcaraz said. “I was playing pretty normal, playing my style, and yeah, the arm, the wrist, everything felt great.”
In that case, don’t rule out a run at a repeat.
Following fellow two-time U.S. Open champion Aryna Sabalenka onto Arthur Ashe Stadium, the second-seeded Alcaraz appeared more comfortable as the match went on and delivered the all-around game that has made him a fan favorite in New York. He held his hand to his ear to encourage louder cheers and pumped his fist after a pretty volley winner in the final game of the match.
Forced to miss the French Open and Wimbledon, Alcaraz decided he was good enough to come back at the U.S. Open, stepping right back into Grand Slam tennis without a warmup event.
“I had more nerves than usual, but just happy, because, for me, my goal here is to compete, to enjoy, and let’s see how my body’s going to react after the matches, after the competition again,” Alcaraz said.
“I don’t know how far I’m going to go in the tournament. I didn’t know if I was going to lose this one, if I’m going to make the second round, final. I don’t know how far I’m going to go. But what I just really want to do is enjoy every time that I’m going to walk into the court feeling the energy from the people, feel the competition.”
No man has won consecutive U.S. Open titles since Roger Federer took five in a row from 2004-08. If Alcaraz stays healthy, the seven-time Grand Slam champion might quickly become a huge favorite with top-ranked Jannik Sinner sidelined by a knee injury and fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic losing in the first round for the first time on Sunday.
AMERICAN MEN ADVANCE
Ben Shelton recovered from a miserable start to defeat Tallon Griekspoor, 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2, in his first-round match on Monday night.
Shelton, the highest-seeded American man at No. 8, was broken three times in a 28-minute first set. He won just one game, tied for the fewest games won in a major opening set of his career.
“Started off a little bit nervous tonight but found my rhythm at some point in the second set,” Shelton said during his on-court interview. “Really happy to be out here on Ashe again, this is where I feel comfortable.”
Shelton was a perfect 13 for 13 in service games from the second set onward as Griekspoor fell to 0-8 in his major career vs. ATP Top-10 opponents.
Shelton will face Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. They have not played each other previously.
Also advancing for the Americans was 14th-seeded Learner Tien of Irvine, who beat Nuno Borges, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
No. 16 seed Brandon Nakashima defeated Sebastian Baez, 6-2, 6-1, 6-0, for his ATP Tour-leading 23rd hard-court match win this season. Nakashima was playing his 43rd career major match; the three games he dropped Monday were his fewest in any of those 43.
Sabalenka likes the look of her outfit and her game
With the tournament thrown into shock by Djokovic’s Sunday night result – he had been 19-0 in the first round at Flushing Meadows, where he won four of his men’s record 24 Grand Slam titles – Sabalenka brought back some normalcy.
Sabalenka beat Camila Osorio, 6-4, 6-4, to begin her bid to be the first player to win three straight U.S. Open championships since Serena Williams from 2012-14.
She has been to the last three U.S. Open finals, rebounding from a loss to Coco Gauff in 2023 by winning in 2024 and then topping Amanda Anisimova last year to repeat.
“I feel like this is one of my favorite stadiums,” Sabalenka told the crowd afterward. “I really experienced the best emotions here in this stadium.”
Sabalenka changed up her look from last time she played on Ashe. Her orange Nike outfit was covered by orange mesh, rather than the black mesh of last week in her mixed doubles match with Djokovic that drew some criticism on social media. Sabalenka dismissed the comments, saying all that mattered was she loved it, and turns out the reason for the change was simple.
“To be honest, I didn’t know that I have a day dress,” she said. “I thought I have a black dress with orange underneath. I figured (out) when I went to Nike that I actually have day session and night session, which is just like black and orange for the day.”
She must have certainly been happier with the level of tennis she delivered Monday, after a series of poor events coming into the U.S. Open. She was knocked out in the fourth round in both Toronto and Cincinnati, after being ousted at the same point at Wimbledon.
That has left Sabalenka needing help to retain the No. 1 ranking, even if she wins again in New York. No. 2 Elena Rybakina will pass her if she reaches the semifinals, and won’t even need to win any matches if Sabalenka fails to win the title.
Sabalenka will play Polina Iatcenko in the second round.
Also moving on in the night session was third-seeded Iga Swiatek, who beat Wang Xiyu, 6-2, 6-3, to improve to 30-1 (.968 win percentage) in the opening round of majors, with her lone loss coming at 2019 Wimbledon. That’s the fourth-best record in first-round major matches by any woman in the Open era.
Swiatek didn’t face a break point in nine service games and dropped only four points on her serve in the second set (20 of 24).
Other winners Monday included No. 6 Linda Noskova, the Wimbledon champion, and No. 7 seed Karolina Muchova, who lost to her fellow Czech in the final at the All-England Club. Sara Bejlek, another Czech and the No. 28 seed who stunned Sabalenka in Cincinnati, fell in three sets to Cristina Bucsa.
Amanda Anisimova, the No. 10 seed who celebrated her 25th birthday Monday, defeated fellow American Ashlyn Krueger, 6-1, 6-3.
No. 26 seed Emma Navarro outlasted Lois Boisson, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (1), 6-3, in a first-round match that began Sunday but was not completed until Monday because of rain.
An ESPN camera captured the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in one shot. As Navarro pumped her fist toward the crowd, Boisson could be seen behind her smashing her racket repeatedly to the court.
Wawrinka falls to Berrettini in Grand Slam farewell
Stan Wawrinka’s Grand Slam career ended Monday when the 2016 U.S. Open champion lost, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-0, to Matteo Berrettini.
Wawrinka won the last of his three major titles in Flushing Meadows when he beat Novak Djokovic in the final 10 years ago. At 41, he was given a wild card into the event in what he has said will be his final season before retiring.
“I’m going to miss it for sure. I’m going to miss it big time. I love the game,” Wawrinka said before he was honored on the court by U.S. Tennis Association officials.
The match appeared remarkably similar to the meeting between the same players at Wimbledon, when Berrettini won a four-setter, with each going to a tiebreaker.
But after Wawrinka had his serve broken to start the third set – despite winning a key point when video review was used – Berrettini quickly pulled away.
Wawrinka made his 18th U.S. Open appearance. He initially thought he wouldn’t get a goodbye to the tournament when the USTA gave its final men’s singles wild card to American Patrick Kypson, who is ranked No. 115.
Wawrinka had already come to New York, but he decided to return home last Monday to Switzerland. When Kypson withdrew with an injury, Wawrinka learned Wednesday the wild card would be given to him, so he returned to New York, a city he said he learned to love.
“I found a way to play my best tennis here,” he said.
Wawrinka was ranked as high as No. 3 and also won titles at the Australian Open and French Open.
The video review was called for to see whether Wawrinka made contact twice on a volley. Following a lengthy review and protest from Berrettini, who was booed even after he and Wawrinka stood arm and arm and shared a laugh, the shot was confirmed as legal.
Berrettini had the fans cheering him again after the match ended, when he clapped his hand onto his racket and pointed it toward Wawrinka.
“Delighted to share the court against this legend of our sport once again,” Berrettini said.
Berrettini, an Italian who reached the 2021 Wimbledon final and the 2019 U.S. Open semis, advanced to face Mariano Navone, who upset the fourth-seeded Djokovic on Sunday night.
Tsitsipas scores an upset, weighs in on Kyrgios’ suspension
Another top-10 seed followed Djokovic out when No. 10 Arthur Fils, coming off the title in Cincinnati, was ousted by Stefanos Tsitsipas, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-4. Tsitsipas, who is unseeded at the U.S. Open for the first time, was asked if he can regain the form that catapulted the Greek to the No. 3 ranking and two losses to Djokovic in Grand Slam finals.
“Why not?” Tsitsipas said.
Tsitsipas was not surprised that Nick Kyrgios was suspended from tennis for drugs.
“Pretty much expected, to be honest,” Tsitsipas said. “I am surprised it came so late, though.”
Kyrgios was banned earlier this month after he revealed he tested positive for cocaine in June when he was in Spain to play at an event. The Australian could be suspended for four years, though a lighter punishment is expected.
Tsitsipas was asked about Kyrgios after upsetting Fils.
“I mean, to be entirely honest with you, I knew about this before the announcement. Myself, I knew about it,” Tsitsipas said.
“So what can I tell you? I will just tell you the truth. I knew about all of this before any announcement was made, and when I saw it on social media, I was, like, ‘Here we go.’ I kind of expected it, to be honest.”
Tsitsipas and Kyrgios played a fiery match at Wimbledon in 2022, when Kyrgios reached his only Grand Slam final. Tsitsipas blasted a couple of shots directly at Kyrgios, intentionally hit a ball into the crowd, and afterward called Kyrgios a “bully.”
Kyrgios has largely battled injuries since and said when he was suspended that he had felt “helpless and alone,” though added that “none of that excuses what I did.”
Nor did it come as a shock to Tsitsipas.
“I knew that those were things that were happening away from the tennis courts. I will tell you that,” he said. “I’m not going to try and cover up someone that I know the truth for. I’ll consider myself a nice person with everyone, but these were behaviors that I personally heard on the tour and heard other people in that same environment saying those sort of things to me.”
More to come on this story.