Alcaraz beats Safiullin and next faces Portugal's Faria
The Spaniard won in straight sets on his return from a right wrist injury, but Greg Rusedski says the real test is still to come.
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The Return in New York
Carlos Alcaraz won his opening match at the US Open, the last Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season, beating Russia's Roman Safiullin in straight sets on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court in New York.
The Spaniard from Murcia was playing after a right wrist injury. According to Puntodebreak, the win came four and a half months after that injury.
Infobae described the performance as an exhibition of forehands, drop shots, smiles and fists raised to the New York sky. The publication printed the scoreline as 0-3 (4-6, 4-6, 4-6), written from Safiullin's side of the net.
Puntodebreak wrote that the match confirmed his tennis and his competitive hunger are still there, and that he mainly needs match time to return to his best level, perhaps not in time for this tournament.
Rusedski's Warning
Greg Rusedski, the former British world number one and the 1997 US Open runner-up, offered a more cautious reading on his podcast, Off Court With Greg Rusedski.
"Let's be honest, he was very lucky that he only played three sets on his debut," Rusedski said. "If it had gone to four or five sets, it would have been a very physical match."
He said the true test will come when Alcaraz is stretched in a long, physical match of four or five sets, and asked whether the wrist would hold up. His argument is that Alcaraz lacks the recent workload, and that training cannot replicate long matches played back to back at a Grand Slam.
Rusedski pointed to Novak Djokovic's defeat by Mariano Navone, a match of more than four hours after which, Puntodebreak reported, the Serb was left crying, vomiting and beaten. He called Navone a human wall who runs all day. He also praised the comeback itself, saying it was an impressive return and that he could only compliment Alcaraz and his team.
Jaime Faria in Round Two
Alcaraz's second round opponent is Jaime Faria, a 23 year old from Portugal. The two have never played each other before.
Faria reached the last 16 in Cincinnati a little over a week earlier, won two Challenger titles in 2024, and is pushing to break into the top 60. He has qualified for every Grand Slam this season, and the US Open is the first he has entered directly, without playing qualifying rounds.
His first round took almost four hours. He beat American Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 7-6(4), 4-6, 1-6, 6-2 in a match marked by friction with the crowd, which backed Brooksby and booed him. Faria answered with insults towards some spectators, then celebrated by cupping his ears and gesturing that they should go to sleep.
"I enjoy playing against North Americans in the United States. This is the kind of tournament I want to play in. It's a bit chaotic for me, but I like it," he said afterwards. The sources do not say when the second round match is scheduled.
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