Spanish teen Carlos Alcaraz had a 46-15 edge in winners on his way to handling Federico Coria of Argentina 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 on Thursday in a second-round match at the U.S. Open in New York.
In late-night action, second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain lost his opening set for the second consecutive match but still cruised to a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
Alcaraz, the third seed, also hit four aces to Coria’s none and saved 13 of 14 break points to cruise into a third-round match against American Jenson Brooksby.
The 19-year-old won his 46th match of the ATP season, tying Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece for the lead. He also could rise to No. 1 in the world rankings if he reaches the championship match, depending on other results.
“It has been a great year for me,” Alcaraz said. “I think I am playing very well. I am so happy to be the player who now has the most victories in the year, but I have to look forward and stay the same player and go for it.”
Brooksby won a lengthy second-set tiebreaker to knock out No. 25 seed Borna Coric of Croatia 6-4, 7-6 (10), 6-1. Coric had come to New York off a title run at the Western & Southern Open last month.
Nadal took advantage of 59 unforced errors from Fognini while giving away just 37 points. The 22-time Grand Slam champion and four-time U.S. Open winner will next face France’s Richard Gasquet, who upset No. 32 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Elsewhere, No. 7 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain eliminated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Russian ninth seed Andrey Rublev was a 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 winner over South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon.
No. 11 Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 14 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina and No. 15 Marin Cilic of Croatia all won in straight sets as well.
Brandon Nakashima won two close sets en route to a 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-3 upset of Bulgarian 17th seed Grigor Dimitrov. The 21-year-old American reached the third round of the U.S. Open for the first time by winning 56 of 70 first-service points (80 percent) and saving all of the five break points he faced.
“Playing against (Dimitrov), it’s always going to be tough,” Nakashima according to the Los Angeles Times. “You’re always going to have to fight for every point … I’m happy with the level I’m playing at and I feel pretty confident right now.”
Nakashima’s third-round opponent will be Sinner, who beat American qualifier Christopher Eubanks 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-2 thanks to Eubanks’ 51 unforced errors.
Other winners Thursday included No. 19 Denis Shapovalov of Canada, No. 20 Daniel Evans of Great Britain and No. 26 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.
Belarus’ Ilya Ivashka knocked out eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. No. 22 seed Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. eked out a 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (2) victory over Australia’s Jason Kubler.
–Field Level Media
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