Alcaraz and Sabalenka reach third round of the US Open
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning US Open champions, have reached the third round of the tournament in New York. In the second round, Alcaraz defeated Portugal's Jaime Faria 4:6, 6:0, 6:3, 6:2, while Sabalenka crushed Russian qualifier Polina Yatsenko 6:1, 6:1.
As Dawn reports, Alcaraz is playing his first tournament after a four-month break caused by a wrist injury. Because of it, he missed the French Open and Wimbledon. In the first set, Faria broke serve to take a 4:3 lead and later won the set, but Alcaraz subsequently seized the initiative.
After the match, Alcaraz called the contest difficult. He explained that after failing to convert a break point, he began to rush and lost patience, but later tried to remain calm.
Sabalenka's victory in 53 minutes
Sabalenka needed 53 minutes for her match against world No. 160 Yatsenko. She hit 24 winners, conceded only four points on her serve in the first set and allowed her opponent to break once in the second set. In the match for a place in the fourth round, the Belarusian will play Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova.
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World No. 3 Jessica Pegula and seventh seed Daniil Medvedev also advanced to the third round. Pegula defeated Sofia Kenin 6:3, 6:1 in 56 minutes, while Medvedev beat American Sebastian Gorzny 6:1, 6:3, 7:5.
Other results
American Ben Shelton defeated former world No. 6 Hubert Hurkacz 6:3, 5:7, 7:6 (7:3), 7:5. His compatriot Frances Tiafoe beat Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto 6:3, 7:6 (7:2), 7:5.
Sixteenth seed Brandon Nakashima lost to American Alex Michelsen 3:6, 4:6, 4:6. Argentina's Mariano Navone, who defeated Novak Djokovic in five sets in his previous match, also beat Italy's Matteo Berrettini 3:6, 6:3, 6:4, 7:6 (7:4).
Rain again affected the schedule of matches on outdoor courts. Australia's Alex de Minaur, whose first-round match had been postponed from Tuesday, defeated Italy's Andrea Guerrieri 6:2, 6:2, 6:4 after another weather-related interruption. Chinese lucky loser Bu Yunchaokete beat 12th-seeded Spaniard Rafael Jodar 6:2, 6:1, 6:1.
