Alcaraz ‘buzzes’ past Opelka to enter the second round of US Open 2025

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, won against American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Monday to move into the second round of the US Open.

Alcaraz and Opelka battled for more than two hours, exchanging 189 legit rallies, out of which the former prevailed in 107.

Despite an inferior record in terms of hitting aces and winners (four to 14 and 23 to 33), the Spaniard crossed the finish line with the help of three break-point conversions, 59 percent second-serve return and Opelka’s 32 unforced errors.

You feel like nothing depends on you.”

Carlos Alcaraz praises Reilly Opelka

“Today was a really difficult one,” the five-time Grand Slam champion said in his on-court interview. “Reilly is a really tough player, you know, with that serve. I couldn’t get that read that I wanted to in the match but just really happy with everything I have done today. The return was one of best things I did today.”

Praising Opelka further, he added:

“You feel like nothing depends on you, it always depends on him, the way he serves and plays from the baseline. You just have to be focused, put as much as return as you can in, try to be in the rally, try to play and win the points that he lets you.”

Apparently, Alcaraz’s appearance created more buzz than his tennis on Monday as he stepped inside the Arthur Ashe with a flat top.

Towards the end of the interview, he invited the spectators to a vote and received a resounding approval.

Alcaraz, ranked No 2, will play Italian Mattia Bellucci next.

New York (Grand Slam), other first-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 90.000.000, most recent results first):

• Alexander Zverev vs. Alejandro Tabilo
• Elmer Moller vs. Tommy Paul
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Alex De Minaur
• Gael Monfils vs. Roman Safiullin
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Jacob Fearnley
• Nuno Borges vs. Brandon Holt
• Daniel Altmaier vs. Hamad Medjedovic
• Hugo Gaston vs. Shintaro Mochizuki
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Alexandre Muller
• Billy Harris vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Tristan Schoolkate
• Leandro Riedi vs. Pedro Martinez Portero
• Valentin Royer vs. Yunchaokete Bu
• Jannik Sinner vs. Vit Kopriva
• Quentin Halys vs. David Goffin
• Alexander Bublik vs. Marin Cilic
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Francisco Cerundolo
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
• Marton Fucsovics vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Gabriel Diallo (31) beat Damir Dzumhur: 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
• Casper Ruud (12) beat Sebastian Ofner: 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (5)
• Andrey Rublev (15) beat Dino Prizmic (Q): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov (9) beat Nishesh Basavareddy (WC): 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-1
• Tristan Boyer (WC) beat James Duckworth (LL): 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
• Jan-Lennard Struff (Q) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-3
• Kamil Majchrzak beat Hugo Dellien: 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4
• Jaume Munar beat Jaime Faria (LL): 6-0, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
• Holger Rune (11) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2)
• Frances Tiafoe (17) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3
• Jenson Brooksby beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
• Flavio Cobolli (24) beat Francesco Passaro (Q): 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Mattia Bellucci beat Juncheng Shang: 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 3-0 ret.
• Francisco Comesana beat Alex Michelsen (28): 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Raphael Collignon beat Daniel Elahi Galan (LL): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Jack Draper (5) beat Federico Agustin Gomez (Q): 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2
• Joao Fonseca beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Cameron Norrie beat Sebastian Korda: 7-5, 6-4, 0-0 ret.
• Lloyd Harris (Q) beat Sebastian Baez: 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
• Martin Damm (Q) beat Darwin Blanch (WC): 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Chak Lam Coleman Wong (Q) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (4)
• Adam Walton beat Ugo Humbert (22): 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-1
• Zizou Bergs beat Chun-Hsin Tseng: 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
• Benjamin Bonzi beat Daniil Medvedev (13): 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4
• Novak Djokovic (7) beat Learner Tien: 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Brandon Nakashima (30) beat Jesper De Jong (Q): 6-2, 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7)
• Marcos Giron beat Mariano Navone: 6-0, 7-5, 4-6, 5-7, 6-4
• Jordan Thompson beat Corentin Moutet: 6-2, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 6-3, 6-2, 6-0
• Pablo Carreno Busta beat Pablo Llamas Ruiz (Q): 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-2
• Jerome Kym (Q) beat Ethan Quinn: 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Zachary Svajda (Q) beat Zsombor Piros (Q): 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
• Tomas Machac (21) beat Luca Nardi: 6-3, 6-1, 6-1
• Adrian Mannarino beat Tallon Griekspoor (29): 7-5, 6-4, 6-0
• Jiri Lehecka (20) beat Borna Coric: 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1
• Eliot Spizzirri (WC) beat Stefan Dostanic (WC): 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Luciano Darderi (32) beat Rinky Hijikata: 6-2, 6-1, 6-2
• Taylor Fritz (4) beat Emilio Nava (WC): 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Ugo Blanchet (Q) beat Fabian Marozsan: 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2
• Ben Shelton (6) beat Ignacio Buse (Q): 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (18) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-1, 6-1, 6-2
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 7-6 (2), 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
• Jakub Mensik (16) beat Nicolas Jarry: 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-4

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