Carlos Alcaraz enjoyed a relaxed night at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the second round of the US Open. The young gun faced Mattia Bellucci and earned a comfortable 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 victory in an hour and 36 minutes.
The Spaniard left the Italian miles behind in the opening two sets and sealed the deal with a double break in the third. Like in Mallorca five and a half years ago, Alcaraz controlled the pace on serve and return.
The favorite claimed 37 points more than his rival and outplayed him in every department. Carlos dominated in his games and offered his rival no break chances, keeping the pressure on the other side.
Mattia could not follow that pace. The lower-ranked player dropped53% of the points in his games and suffered seven breaks from 17 opportunities presented to world no. 2. Thus, the Spaniard improved his US Open score to 19-3.
Carlos felt the ball superbly. He landed 32 winners and 23 unforced errors, attacking and playing flawless tennis at the net. The 2022 champion required 58 minutes to wrap up 12 of the opening 13 games.
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He raced into a 5-0 lead in the opening set with breaks in games two and four. Alcaraz held at 5-1 to wrap up the first part of the duel in no time. The Spaniard was the only player on the court in the second set.
He barely lost a point on serve and provided three breaks for his ninth bagel at Majors. Bellucci recovered his shots a bit in the first half of the third set, reaching 3-3 and doing much better than in the opening two sets combined!
However, Carlos stepped in on the return in games seven and nine, delivering back-to-back breaks and moving over the top.
