{"id":875924,"date":"2026-09-01T07:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875924\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T07:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:02:12","slug":"us-open-alcaraz-wins-on-return-aggressive-sabalenka-advances-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875924\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open: Alcaraz wins on return, aggressive Sabalenka advances | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published On 1 Sep 20261 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

Defending men\u2019s champion Carlos Alcaraz did not miss a beat as he returned from a four-month injury absence<\/a> with a straight-sets first-round victory in the US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Out of action with a wrist injury<\/a> since April, Alcaraz passed his first test with flying colours, beating Russian Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where women\u2019s defending champion Aryna Sabalenka also made it safely into the second round on Monday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been a really tough five months for me,\u201d Alcaraz, the world number three, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to step on the Arthur Ashe, being able to compete again, I couldn\u2019t decide to come back in a better tournament. It\u2019s a really special place for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to enjoy as much as I can. I missed the crowd, I missed the energy, I missed competition. I missed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz is trying to bookend his season with major titles after his Australian Open triumph<\/a> in January made him the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam \u2013 the achievement of winning all Grand Slam titles.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s performance might not have been peak Alcaraz, but the seven-time Grand Slam champion unleashed his powerful forehand with increasing confidence and displayed his familiar touch at the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the level of tennis is going to be better for sure,\u201d said Alcaraz, adding that he was most proud to have quelled his own doubts about his fitness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to forget everything, I tried to enjoy,\u201d the 23-year-old said.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz\u2019s smooth progress into the second round came less than 24 hours after an ailing Novak Djokovic suffered his earliest Grand Slam exit in 20 years<\/a>, falling in five brutal sets to Mariano Navone.<\/p>\n

The tournament was already missing top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who has a knee injury<\/a>, and Djokovic\u2019s exit removed another possible obstacle for Alcaraz, who could have met the Serb in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

\"Spain'sSpain\u2019s Carlos Alcaraz hits a return to Russia\u2019s Roman Safiullin during their men\u2019s singles first-round tennis match on day two of the US Open tennis tournament, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in New York City [Timothy A Clary\/AFP]Aggressive Sabalenka<\/p>\n

Sabalenka\u2019s bid for a rare US Open three-peat comes during a worrying drop in form, but the Belarusian star rose to the occasion in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Camila Osorio.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka was slowed by 23 unforced errors but belted 32 winners to more than compensate, her thunderous groundstrokes proving enough to see off a counter-punching opponent who stepped up her game in the second set.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe brought the fight,\u201d Sabalenka said. \u201cShe battled really well, and I just tried to stay as aggressive as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I played great. She\u2019s a tough opponent, makes you work really hard to get every point, so I\u2019m happy that I was able to close the match in straight sets,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Belarus\u0092World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka celebrates her victory over Colombian Camila Osorio during their women\u2019s singles first-round match [Timothy A Clary\/AFP]<\/p>\n

World number one Sabalenka has not reached a final since capturing the prestigious \u201cSunshine Double\u201d<\/a>\u00a0of Indian Wells and Miami in March.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Naomi Osaka was forced to dig deep before overcoming Russian first-round opponent Anastasia Zakharova 7-6 (8\/6), 7-6 (7\/3) in just more than two hours in a late-night duel.<\/p>\n

Poland\u2019s six-time Grand Slam singles champion Iga Swiatek sailed into the second round with a straight-sets victory over China\u2019s Wang Xiyu. Eighth-seeded Swiatek, who defeated Sabalenka on the way to her lone US Open triumph in 2022, eased past Wang 6-2, 6-3 in 1hr 28min.<\/p>\n

Frenchman Arthur Fils, flying high after his first ATP Masters title in Cincinnati, was brought back to earth by Greece\u2019s Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6, 7-6 (7\/3), 6-1, 6-4.<\/p>\n

Tsitsipas bagged his first win over 22-year-old Fils in six encounters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am speechless, I don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d said Tsitsipas, a former top five player who has slumped to 53 in the world. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing start to the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadian third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime also advanced, defeating Australia\u2019s Rinky Hijikata 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.<\/p>\n

American eighth seed Ben Shelton overcame a rocky start before booking his place in the second round with a 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7\/3), 6-2 defeat of the Netherlands\u2019 Tallon Griekspoor in the night match on Arthur Ashe.<\/p>\n

Shelton looked out of sorts as Griekspoor roared through the first set with three breaks of serve but turned the tables to win in 2hr 35min.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarted off with a little bit of nerves tonight, but I found my rhythm,\u201d Shelton said.<\/p>\n

Top-seeded German Alexander Zverev will begin his campaign on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published On 1 Sep 20261 Sep 2026 Defending men\u2019s champion Carlos Alcaraz did not miss a beat as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,588,85,747,1055,6075],"class_list":["post-875924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}