ATP Tour
Alcaraz takes very different path than Djokovic to US Open R3
The 2022 champion erases memories of last year’s second-round shock
August 28, 2025
Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Carlos Alcaraz continues his quest for a sixth major crown.
By ATP Staff
Carlos Alcaraz raced to a convincing victory Wednesday in the US Open second round, making a statement while potential semi-final opponent Novak Djokovic continues searching for his A-game.
Unbroken through two matches, the second-seed Alcaraz downed Italian Mattia Bellucci 6-1, 6-0, 6-3, a far cry from his shocking exit last year to Botic van de Zandschulp at the same stage. This time around, the Spaniard has been nearly flawless through his opening two matches. In contrast, his rival Djokovic has scraped through to the third round, needing four sets to get past Zachary Svajda earlier Wednesday, after struggling physically in his opener against Learner Tien following a six-week break from the Tour.
“If I’m honest, I thought about last year when I stepped on the court. Some bad thoughts,” Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference. “I was nervous about it, thinking, ‘Okay, I don’t want to do the same thing as I did last year’.”
The 2022 champion kept World No. 65 Bellucci scrambling from the start, piling on the pressure with aggressive baseline play to race through the opening set in just 30 minutes. The 22-year-old’s performance was as tight as his new buzzcut. It was Alcaraz’s most decisive victory in terms of fewest games lost across his 17 completed matches at the US Open.
“I set up some goals at the beginning of the match, and I’m trying to follow them from the first ball until the last ball,” Alcaraz said. “That’s something that helped me a lot to stay in the match — to stay positive, to stay aggressive all the time. Not having ups and downs in the match. It’s just about the goals you set up yourself and try to follow them every time.”
Alcaraz attacked returns with fearless aggression, having won 58 per cent of his first-serve return points. Yet he still had the touch to feather delicate drop shots that impressed the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. One of his highlight-reel moments came when he unloaded a blistering 109 mph (175 km/h) forehand winner to earn a break point in the second set
“The return has been an important goal for me just to be really good and keep it really improving. There are a lot of players that are serving really, really well, which I have to be ready for that,” said Alcaraz, who converted three of eleven break points against Opelka and seven of 17 against Bellucci.
“The return is the shot that you start the point with. If you make a really good return, you put yourself in the position of attack, which I really like being in the attack position as much as I can. I just put so much attention on it in every practice, in every match, and I’m paying attention to the stats about my return.”
Poetry in motion. @usopen | #USOpen | @carlosalcaraz pic.twitter.com/yUj6ep7kOq
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 28, 2025
The five-time major champion, who is on a eight-match winning streak dating back to his title run at the Cincinnati Open, next faces 32nd-seeded Italian Luciano Darderi, who beat American wild card Eliot Spizzirri 6-0, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4. It will be Alcaraz and Darderi’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash.
Alcaraz is aiming for a second US Open trophy and a return to World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings. If the Spaniard matches or betters Jannik Sinner’s result at Flushing Meadows, Alcaraz will leave New York atop the PIF ATP Rankings. He has won 32 of his past 33 matches, with his lone loss being to Sinner in the Wimbledon final.
Leading the Tour with 56 wins, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, and six titles this season, Alcaraz and rival Sinner could meet in a double-prize championship match, with the US Open trophy and World No. 1 honours on the line.