Carlos Alcaraz (21) beat Botic van de Zandschulp (28) at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam in a rematch of their shocking second-round matchup of the last US Open: 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-1.
Five months after his shocking win at the US Open which knocked Alcaraz out in the second round, Van de Zandschulp would meet the Spanish number three of the world at his home tournament in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
An energetic start to the match saw Van de Zandschulp nearly pull off the first surprise at the first time of asking, were it not for the Spaniard saving a break point on his way to a 1-0 lead. Sometimes narrowly defending one of Alcaraz’s powerful shots, Van de Zandschulp confidently held his first service game before breaking Alcaraz for his first lead.
The Spanish tied the game with a break but couldn’t escape a deficit as Van de Zandschulp put on a top showing and made it to setpoint. Alcaraz erased it as fast as he could and turned the set around, leading Van de Zandschulp 6 games to 5 after an hour of playing.
The Dutchman showed out in front of his home crowd and forced a deciding tiebreak to determine the winner of the first set. Alcaraz wasted no time showing the Dutchman who’s boss, breaking his opponent on his first three serves on his way to a 7-3 tiebreak win and a 1-0 set lead.
Van de Zandschulp jumped out of the gates with a lead and got off to a hot start in Alcaraz’s first service game, going up 40-15 before conceding two high-quality points from the three-time Grand Slam winner. The Spaniard drove Van de Zandschulp to the end of his abilities and retook the initiative in the game, eventually winning it on a failed drop shot from the Dutchman.
Up 2-1, Van de Zandschulp put up a valiant effort against the Spanish favourite but had to concede a game after Alcaraz hit a surgical ball out of a spin.
The Dutchman shot out the gates again, leading Alcaraz 30-0 on his way to a game. Alcaraz hit back and jumped to 40-30 before the 84th-ranked Dutchman came back and finished it off with an ace.
Van de Zandschulp put constant pressure on his opponent and made the most of his break opportunities, stealing a service game from his opponent two out of two times in the second set. The Dutchman gave up one more game before clinching the set win with three forced errors from excellent serves.
Come the third and final set, Van de Zandschulp started stuttering in his serves and allowed Alacarz to start with an early 3-0 lead. The Dutchman grabbed a game before conceding three in a row and losing the match after a lacklustre return game in the final set.
Alcaraz will continue his tournament against the winner of the matchup between former ABN AMRO Open winner Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andrea Vavassori.
View all the match statistics on Flashscore.
