Third seed Carlos Alcaraz suffered a seismic second-round exit on the US Open with a thumping defeat by unseeded Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
Alcaraz was bidding to change into the third man in historical past after Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the identical calendar 12 months within the Open period.
However the Spaniard by no means recovered from a shaky begin in opposition to world quantity 74 Van de Zandschulp, who triumphed 6-1 7-5 6-4 for the highest-ranked win of his profession.
The defeat ends Alcaraz’s 15-match successful run at Grand Slams.
“I believe my degree stayed on the identical level all of the match, and it wasn’t sufficient to win the match or to offer myself the prospect to get into the match or attempt to give myself probabilities,” stated Alcaraz.
“I did not really feel effectively hitting the ball. I believe I made quite a lot of errors. After I wished to come back again or I believe I wished to come back again, it was too late.”
The 21-year-old made 27 unforced errors all through the match whereas Van de Zandchulp made 21.
“He did not make quite a lot of errors that I believed he was going to take action I used to be confused just a little bit,” Alcaraz stated. “I did not know methods to handle that.”
Alcaraz, who received silver on the Paris Olympics after shedding to Novak Djokovic on 4 August, says he wanted an extended break earlier than going to Flushing Meadows.
“I got here right here with not as a lot vitality as I believed that I used to be going to come back with. However I do not wish to put that as an excuse,” he stated.
Earlier, world primary Jannik Sinner outclassed American Alex Michelsen 6-4 6-0 6-2 for his fiftieth victory of the 12 months.
Australian Open champion Sinner is taking part in at his first event because it emerged he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after twice testing optimistic for a banned substance earlier this 12 months.