A night that got away from de Minaur
Botic van de Zandschulp had played Alex de Minaur four times and lost four times, the most recent of them earlier this year in Rotterdam. On Thursday night at Flushing Meadows the Dutchman finally found the answer, and the sixth seed was out of the US Open before the second round had finished.
Van de Zandschulp won 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 43 minutes. The scoreline reads cleaner than the match was. De Minaur saved three match points in the final game and still could not force his way back into it. When it ended he stood on court for a moment, then walked off without looking back.
The numbers explain most of the rest. De Minaur put 29 unforced errors into the court against 21 from his opponent, and served seven double faults on a night when his first delivery deserted him. “Today I served very well, I think that was the difference,” van de Zandschulp said on court afterwards.
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The Dutchman who keeps doing this in Queens
Van de Zandschulp is ranked 70th in the world and has built a small speciality out of removing seeds in New York. He reached the quarter-finals here in 2021 by beating Casper Ruud. In 2024 he knocked out third seed Carlos Alcaraz in the second round. The world number seven now joins that list.
It is his second win over a top-ten player on this American hard-court swing. He beat Daniil Medvedev at the Montreal Masters in August. Zizou Bergs is next for him in the third round.
An exit with consequences
This is de Minaur’s earliest US Open departure in five years, at a tournament where he has reached the quarter-finals three times. Rain had already pushed his opening match against Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri back to day four, leaving him short of rhythm going into Thursday.
The timing stings more because the draw had opened up. With Novak Djokovic and Felix Auger-Aliassime both already beaten, de Minaur had become the fourth-highest seed left in the tournament and the top half looked as thin as it has in years. His defeat also cuts Australian interest in the men’s singles to one player, wildcard Dane Sweeny, who upset Lorenzo Musetti to reach the last 32.
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