- No 3 seed has 15-match grand slam streak broken in 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 defeat
- 21-year-old had not lost before quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows
Carlos Alcaraz’s 15-match grand slam unbeaten run has ended at the US Open with a sloppy 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 loss to 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round on Thursday night. The stunning result was hard to predict, given Alcaraz’s standing in the game, his excellence of late and his opponent’s far-lesser resume.
Alcaraz won the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July to raise his career total to four major championships, including taking the title at Flushing Meadows in 2022. But he never found his footing against van de Zandschulp, a 28-year-old from the Netherlands.