(August 31, 2026) Defending champions Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka opened title defenses with ease on day 2 of the US Open. On Monday, the second-seeded Alcaraz beat Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, while Sabalenka, the top seed, stopped Camila Osorio 6-2, 6-4.
Alcaraz is playing his first tournament since April when he hurt his wrist.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen in the match, after four months and a half almost, you don’t know what’s going to happen in your body, in your mind, everything. It’s totally different,” said the Spaniard.
“But, you know, I just try to play, you know, one game at a time and try to feel good, to enjoy playing points, feeling the love from the people. Hopefully they enjoyed it.
“Yeah, after the match, my body felt great. I’m just really, really happy that I made it finally.”
“It was a difficult day for me, to be honest, but at the same time, a really beautiful one. Starting the day really nervous. Really, really nervous. Thinking, like, I’m going to make it, I’m going to compete again.
“Yeah, I had more nerves than usually, but just happy, because, you know, for me, my goal here is to compete, to enjoy, and let’s see how my body’s going to react after the matches, after the competition again.
“I don’t know how far I’m gonna go in the tournament. I didn’t know if I was going to lose this one, if I’m going to make the second round, final. I don’t know how far I’m going to go.
“But what I just really want to do is enjoy every time that I’m gonna walk into the court feeling, you know, the energy from the people, feel the competition, walking up, I’m thinking, all right, it’s match day. That’s what I’m gonna do this tournament.”
There were no worries for Sabalenka, the Belarusian, either. “I think I played great. I’m happy with my performance. She’s a tough opponent, make you work really hard to get every point. So I’m happy that I was able to close the match in straight sets.”
France’s Arthur Fils, the No. 10 seed, came into the US Open as a favorite due to his strong summer and winning the Cincinnati Open. He started out well for a set and a half and faded as Stefanos Tsitsipas stepped up and won the match 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-4.
“Yeah, was a tough match,” said Fils. “I got some occasion. Couldn’t make it. But congrats to him. I mean, he played better than me, so he deserve to win.”
“Once the energy went down at the end of the second, and I never felt again a good energy. I have to talk with my team, but at my level, to do such a mistake is almost unprofessional.”
“Of course pretty happy with the way I play Montreal and Cincy, but very, very, very disappointed with the way I played today. So now I see more dark than pink, but it’s okay.”
Tsitsipas said it wa a tense match for him. “It was a very psychologically demanding match. I knew that from the start.
“He came from a good run in Cincinnati, so I knew I was dealing with a good and in-shape Arthur Fils,” said the Greek. “My goal from the beginning of the match was just try and stay as much and as long as possible on the tennis court.
“Mentally, I was ready for a big battle. I didn’t know how good he was going to play. One thing I had control over is the way I would behave on court and the way I would try and keep myself for as long as possible on the tennis court.
“I’m extremely proud of myself with the way I fought. There were a lot of difficult moments today and very psychologically demanding, especially when you’re up and you get broken and you feel like you’re so close to, as we say in Greece, drink the water from the well.”
“Yeah, just generally a great assessment of my game. I haven’t played like that in a while, so it’s a refreshing feeling to see myself compete in that manner and being able to fully integrate myself into an electric atmosphere such as the one that New York offers. I had a lot of fun out there.”
