It was a first round match between two men in black tank tops, one a superstar, the other an unknown. And it was the superstar who logically prevailed: Carlos Alcaraz, winner of the US Open in 2022 and three other Grand Slam titles, dominated (6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1) Li Tu, world number 186 at 28 years old and coming from qualifiers, on Tuesday in the first round of the US Open. The 60th Grand Slam victory for the 21-year-old Spaniard and his fifteenth in a row.
But it wasn’t all easy for Alcaraz (3rd), far from it. Like Jannik Sinner a little earlier on Tuesday, he dropped a set. While he breezed through the first and fourth sets, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s protégé experienced a slump in the second set, while leading 4-3, with serve to follow. That’s when Tu chose to unleash his one-handed backhand: the Australian became aggressive and hurt Alcaraz—who won only 27% of points behind his second serve and made numerous errors on his forehand—winning the next three games to level the match at one set all, much to everyone’s surprise.
Twelve of the last 13 games
This moment of grace for the Australian lasted until the middle of the third set, where Alcaraz finally took control, winning 12 of the last 13 games of the match, concluded with an ace (his eighth). Alcaraz will play his second round against Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp (74th), who defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov (105th) (6-4, 7-5, 6-4).