US OPEN: Carlos Alcaraz Beats South African Lloyd Harris 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(4) to enter third round 

Carlos Alcaraz played great and passed his first true test of the 2023 US Open after defeating spirited South African Lloyd Harris 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(4) on Thursday night.

The World No.1 in his opening game faced a second-set retirement from his opponent Dominik Kopefer in his opening match who had to quit the contest due to an ankle injury.

“I played a great match from the beginning of the match until the last ball,” Alcaraz said. “If I have to pick out something I think I played a good second set without many mistakes and playing my game.”

The youngest US Open top seed in tournament history, Alcaraz defended nine of 10 break points faced and recovered from being a break down midway through the third set.

“I did have a bad game in the third set when I got broken and I had to forget it,” Alcaraz said. “I stayed strong mentally and played a great return game to break back. It was very important for me to get another straight-sets win in the first rounds.”

Alcaraz will be pleased to have reached the third round without dropping a set, given his recent gruelling week at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, where all his matches went the distance, including a near-four-hour final against Novak Djokovic.

The current World No. 1 spent more than 20 hours on court last year at Flushing Meadows to earn his maiden Grand Slam title.

Alcaraz will face a difficult test in the third round against gritty Brit and recent Washington champion Daniel Evans, who likely will come to net often and challenge the 12-time tour-level titlist to come up with winning passing shots. Evans rallied from a heavy first-set defeat to chase down Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

Although he leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head 2-0, Alcaraz expects a tough battle with Evans. “He’s a really tough player. Good serve and volley, good net game,” the Spaniard said. “I will have to return very, very well if I want to win that match.”