Botic van de Zandschulp, a Dutch tennis player, scored one of the biggest upsets of the United States Open when he stunned the four-time grand slam champion Carlos Alcaraz in the second round on Thursday.
Coming from a player ranked No. 74 in the world, it may have seemed shocking, but Mr.
van de Zandschulp has enjoyed the greatest successes of his career at the Open.
In 2021 he went from qualifying all the way to the quarterfinal stage, and then he turned the men’s singles draw upside down this week.
Watching from the player’s box were Mr. van de Zandschulp’s two secret weapons in New York: the Pham brothers, a pair of American former players who speak Dutch and help their childhood pal from a Dutch youth tennis program to feel at home.
That proved the least of his problems as he dropped serve twice in the opening set, failing to hit a single winner against his 28-year-old opponent, who made the quarter-finals on his debut in 2021.
Alcaraz squandered break points in the second game of the second set and the Dutchman made him pay with a break of his own for a 2-1 lead in front of a stunned crowd.
The 2022 champion hit back immediately to level at 2-2 but it was a brief respite from his troubles as his inspired opponent broke again for 6-5 and took the set when Alcaraz fired a service return wide.
