Alcaraz recovers after dropping first set to reach third round at US Open

Carlos Alcaraz was already in the final by the time he dropped a set last year in the U.S. Open. When it happened in his second match this year, Alcaraz tried to look at the positives. After missing four months with a right wrist injury, the extra work might help.

“I wanted to be quick, to be honest. I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said. “But at the end, I realized that just playing four sets, it was really good for me to test everything physically, to test my body, how I feel, and tomorrow how I’m going to feel after this match.”

The defending champion rebounded from a quick deficit by winning eight straight games and beat Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday night. The No. 2-seeded Alcaraz dropped his serve midway through the first set but soon was back to playing long stretches of flawless tennis.

“After that I just tried to be focused, tried to stay calm and I’m thinking that good things are going to happen again,” Alcaraz said. He didn’t drop a set last year until the final against Jannik Sinner, becoming the first man since Roger Federer in 2015 to go through his first six matches without doing so.

He then beat Sinner in four sets for his second U.S. Open title. The 23-year-old Alcaraz then picked up his seventh major title at this year’s Australian Open and is on a 16-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments.

But after missing the French Open and Wimbledon during his absence, even Alcaraz said he didn’t know what to expect in Flushing Meadows, where he won his first major title in 2022 at 19.