Alcaraz Dominates Safiullin in U.S. Open Return
NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz walked back into Arthur Ashe Stadium with nerves in his stomach, tape on his right wrist, and a question hanging over the entire men’s draw.
By the time he walked off, the question had changed.
Alcaraz brushed aside Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday, moving freely, swinging hard, and showing no trace of the right wrist injury that had kept him out since April. The anxious test run turned into a statement.
“I was playing pretty normal, playing my style, and yeah, the arm, the wrist, everything felt great,” he said. From the inside, it felt routine. From the outside, it looked ominous for the rest of the field.
He stepped into the U.S. Open cold — no tuneup events, no soft landing after missing Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Just the biggest stadium in tennis, a tricky first-round opponent, and a draw that blew wide open the night before when Novak Djokovic crashed out in the first round for the first time in his career at Flushing Meadows.
Alcaraz needed a few games to settle. Then the show began.
He started leaning into returns, taking the ball early, feathering drop shots, and driving forehands with the familiar whip of his right wrist. Each hold came quicker. Each point he won seemed to loosen him up. By the third set, he was cupping his hand to his ear, begging Ashe for more noise, and punching the air after a silky volley in the final game.
“I had more nerves than usual,” he admitted, but framed this fortnight in simpler terms: compete, enjoy, and see how the body holds up. No guarantees, no bold predictions. “I don’t know how far I’m going to go in the tournament… But what I just really want to do is enjoy every time that I’m going to walk into the court feeling the energy from the people, feel the competition.”
The men’s field might not enjoy it as much. With top-ranked Jannik Sinner out with a knee injury and Djokovic gone in round one after entering with a 19-0 record in openers here and four titles among his men’s-record 24 majors, the defending champion suddenly carries the weight of history and expectation.
No man has defended a U.S. Open title since Roger Federer’s five straight from 2004 to 2008. If Alcaraz’s wrist holds, he now stands as the most obvious candidate to break that drought.
Sabalenka settles Ashe — and sharpens her edge
Before Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka had already restored a sense of normal order on Ashe.
The two-time defending champion opened her campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Camila Osorio, launching her bid to become the first woman since Serena Williams from 2012 to 2014 to win three consecutive U.S. Open titles. Sabalenka has reached the last three finals here, losing to Coco Gauff in 2023, then responding with titles in 2024 and 2025, the latter over Amanda Anisimova.
“I feel like this is one of my favorite stadiums,” she told the crowd. “I really experienced the best emotions here in this stadium.”
She looked different too. The orange Nike dress remained, but the black mesh she wore last week in mixed doubles with Djokovic — and the social-media chatter that followed — had been swapped out for orange mesh. Sabalenka brushed off the criticism, saying the only thing that mattered was that she liked the outfit. The wardrobe twist turned out to be simple logistics.
“To be honest, I didn’t know that I have a day dress,” she said. “I thought I have a black dress with orange underneath. I figured (out) when I went to Nike that I actually have day session and night session, which is just like black and orange for the day.”
What really mattered was the tennis. Recent results had been rough: fourth-round exits in Toronto, Cincinnati, and Wimbledon. On Monday, her power game snapped back into focus, a timely reset with her No. 1 ranking under threat.
Even if Sabalenka lifts the trophy again, she needs help to stay atop the rankings. No. 2 Elena Rybakina will overtake her by reaching the semifinals — and could still rise to No. 1 without winning a match if Sabalenka fails to defend her title.
Farewell to Wawrinka, a lifeline for Tsitsipas
The day also carried a goodbye.
Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 U.S. Open champion and owner of three major titles, played his final Grand Slam match, falling to Matteo Berrettini. At 41, the Swiss veteran leaves a tournament where he once crashed the Big Four’s party and carved his own place in New York’s memory.
“I’m going to miss it for sure. I’m going to miss it big time,” he said, a simple line that hit with the weight of a career’s last stand.
If Wawrinka’s exit closed a chapter, Stefanos Tsitsipas tried to reopen his own. Unseeded here for the first time, the former world No. 3 and two-time Grand Slam finalist clawed past No. 10 seed Arthur Fils 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-4. Fils arrived riding high after a title in Cincinnati; he left as another early casualty in a shaken draw.
Asked if he can rediscover the level that once pushed him into two major finals against Djokovic, Tsitsipas didn’t hesitate.
“Why not?” he replied.
Shelton flips the script, contenders hold firm
Ben Shelton’s start was a disaster. Three breaks dropped in 28 brutal minutes as Tallon Griekspoor tore through the first set 6-1. Then the American flipped the match on its head.
Shelton answered with a 6-1 set of his own, wrestled control in a tense third-set tiebreak, and ran away with the fourth to win 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2. What began as a rout ended as a statement of resilience from the No. 8 seed.
On the women’s side, the established names largely held their ground. No. 8 Iga Swiatek, the 2017 champion Sloane Stephens, and No. 10 seed Amanda Anisimova all advanced, while two-time champion Naomi Osaka was scheduled for the night session.
Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, seeded No. 6, moved through, as did No. 7 Karolina Muchova, who lost to her fellow Czech in the All England Club final. No. 28 seed Sara Bejlek, another Czech and the player who stunned Sabalenka in Cincinnati, could not repeat that shock; she went out in three sets to Cristina Bucsa.
Navarro survives, Boisson boils over
Emma Navarro’s first-round win stretched across two days and two very different emotions on the same screen.
The No. 26 seed edged Lois Boisson 7-6 (6), 6-7 (1), 6-3 in a match halted by rain on Sunday and completed Monday. Navarro’s reaction at the finish was pure release, a fist pump toward the Ashe crowd. Behind her, ESPN cameras caught Boisson smashing her racket into the court again and again — one frame, two stories.
On a day when a 41-year-old champion said goodbye, a former prodigy tried to climb back, and a defending king tested a once-fragile wrist, the U.S. Open felt wide open and strangely familiar at the same time.
If Alcaraz’s arm really is “normal” and Sabalenka keeps feeding off the Ashe roar, the question now is simple: who is left to stop them?
