Carlos Alcaraz’s 15-match unbeaten run at the US Open ended with a 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 defeat to 74th-seeded Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round on Thursday night. The stunning result was hard to predict, given Alcaraz’s position in the game, his recent excellence and his opponent’s much poorer resume.
Alcaraz won the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July, bringing his career to four major championships. He also won the title at Flushing Meadows in 2022. However, he was never able to compete with the 28-year-old Dutchman from Zandschulp.
The No. 3 was far behind, repeatedly missing the kind of shots he normally makes routinely. After double-faulting and falling two sets to none behind—a deficit he never overcame—Alcaraz slung his gear bag over his shoulder and trudged to the locker room.
Alcaraz looked over at his coach, 2003 French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero, and pointed his right index finger at his temple, then waved it around as if to say, “I’m not thinking clearly.” Alcaraz could have been forgiven for being confused by what was happening under the closed retractable roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium on a cold night.
The 21-year-old Spaniard entered the US Open with a 16-2 record, having never lost before the quarterfinals in three previous appearances. It was also Alcaraz’s first defeat at a major tournament since exiting in the second round of Wimbledon as a teenager in 2021; he has never lost in the first round of a Slam tournament.
By contrast, van de Zandschulp has only reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam once, at the 2021 US Open. Other than that, he is not someone most would have expected to pull off such a monumental upset: van de Zandschulp was just 11-18 for the season entering this week and had not won consecutive matches at a tour-level event in 2024.
“I’m actually a bit speechless,” said van de Zandschulp. “It was an incredible evening for me.”
The most important statistic was probably that Van de Zandschulp managed to score 28 of his 35 goals.
The opening set was incredibly lopsided. With van de Zandschulp’s powerful forehands and serves of up to 132 mph finding their mark, Alcaraz never seemed at ease – even though he had won their last two matchups.
Alcaraz failed to produce a winner in that set and nearly doubled his points total, 24-13. The second set was a little better for him, but not enough, and a double fault wrapped up a service break that put van de Zandschulp up 6-5. When Alcaraz pushed a forehand wide to end the next game, van de Zandschulp completed a hold at love that gave him the first two sets after 1 hour and 30 minutes of action.
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It didn’t take long for Alcaraz to also fall behind by a break in the third, 3-2, but he immediately stood his ground when van de Zandschulp double-faulted and held off a break, making it 3-all. Alcaraz then held at love and smiled as he headed for the changeover.
However, that grin quickly disappeared as Alcaraz continued to make mistakes and Van de Zandschulp never gave up.
“Of course I was a bit nervous, but I think if you want to beat one of these guys you have to keep your cool and keep your head in the game,” said van de Zandschulp, who will face British No. 25 seed Jack Draper in the third round on Saturday. “Otherwise they’ll take advantage of it.”