WHAT HAPPENED: Rocking up for the US Open main draw with a fresh buzzcut, Carlos Alcaraz avoided a close shave Monday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory against big-serving American Reilly Opelka.
Immediately banishing the memories of his shock second-round exit to Botic van De Zandschulp last year in New York, Alcaraz made an early statement by racing through the opening set without losing any of his 20 service points, missing just three first serves in the frame.
Opelka threatened in sets two and three, creating three combined break chances, but Alcaraz held firm in a business-like display that embodied his new haircut. A single break in each set was enough for the Spaniard, who used an otherworldly passing shot to spark his charge to what proved to be a match-clinching break at 4-4 in the third set.
"Today was a really difficult one," Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. "Reilly is a really tough player with that serve. I couldn't get the rhythm that I wanted to get in the match, but I'm just really happy with everything I've done today. I think the return was one of the best things I did today, and then I just tried to play my best tennis, tried to be focused on my serve. Overall, I think I had a really great performance today."
Explaining the challenge of playing the ATP Tour's ace leader, Alcaraz's immediate answer was revealing: "You feel like nothing depends on you," he said.
But despite Opelka firing 14 aces (to Alcaraz's four) to bring his 2025 tally up to 669, the Spaniard made 61% (59/96) of his returns on the night and was particularly effective on second-serve returns, winning 59% (24/41) of those points to keep the pressure on his opponent.
It took until his eighth break point of the opening set for Alcaraz to make his initial breakthrough in the fifth game, but he needed just one opportunity in the second set and two in set three to make Opelka pay.
WHAT IT MEANS: Alcaraz improved his perfect record in Grand Slam opening rounds to 19-0. Outside of his second-round exit here last year, he has reached at least the quarterfinals at every major he's played since his 2022 US Open title run.
Now 55-6 on the 2025 season, Alcaraz leads the ATP Tour in both wins and titles (6), including hard-court crowns in Rotterdam and Cincinnati and his fifth major title at Roland Garros. On a seven-match winning streak dating back to the start of his Cincinnati run earlier this month, he will next face Italy's Mattia Bellucci in Round 2.
Opelka was seeking his first US Open win since 2021, when he reached his lone Grand Slam fourth round. As the world No. 67, he was bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to defeat Alcaraz since No. 74 van de Zandschulp's stunner last year in Ashe.
MATCH POINT: In addition to being the ATP Tour's ace leader this season, Opelka also paces the tour in tiebreaks won this year with a 27-13 record. He could not force a single one against the locked-in Alcaraz, ending a streak of seven matches with at least one breaker.
