Second-round competition at the U.S. Open will wrap up on Thursday. It is a busy schedule headlined by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner on the men’s side, while Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula return to the court in the women’s draw.
Here are my picks for two of Thursday’s best matchups.
(3) Carlos Alcaraz vs. Botic van de Zandschulp
Alcaraz has won each of the last two Grand Slams, the French Open and Wimbledon. The Spaniard’s bid for a third straight–and second overall at the U.S. Open following his 2022 triumph–began on Tuesday night against Australian qualifier Li Tu. Alcaraz struggled at times but ended up prevailing 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. It marked the world No. 3’s first win of the entire hard-court summer. Cincinnati was his only warmup tournament and he lost right away to Gael Monfils.
Next up for Alcaraz is a third encounter with Van de Zandschulp, who went down 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 at the 2021 Australian Open and 6-4, 6-2 on the indoor hard courts of Basel in 2022. There is little reason to think that anything will change on Thursday. After all, the 74th-ranked Dutchan played so poorly this spring and summer that he considered retiring from tennis. BVDZ managed to restore some confidence by going back to Challengers and advancing to a pair of finals, but that hardly inspires any confidence heading into a matchup with one of the best players on the planet.
Pick: Alcaraz in 3
(1) Jannik Sinner vs. Alex Michelsen
Like Alcaraz, Sinner struggled at times in round one. The top-ranked Italian trailed Mackenzie McDonald by a set and a break on Tuesday afternoon only to dominate the rest of the way for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. If it briefly looked like Sinner was weighed down by the recent controversy of his positive steroid test, but it ended up being mostly one-way traffic. Thus there should not be too many–if any–concerns about Sinner moving forward, at least not in the second round.
Michelsen is a tough opponent, but Sinner just beat the American 6-4, 7-5 in Cincinnati. Moreover, Michelsen may be fatigued. It has been a busy summer for the 20-year-old with runner-up performances in both Newport and Winston-Salem, the latter this past weekend. Michelsen did well to beat Eliot Spizzirri in straight sets on Tuesday, but Sinner obviously presents a much different test–maybe the toughest one in tennis, as his ranking indicates.
Pick: Sinner in 3
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.