Scary, new-look Alcaraz advances in menacing fashion

Carlos Alcaraz debuted a menacing buzzcut look to go with his dangerous tennis as the second seed started his US Open campaign with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Reilly Opelka.

Alcaraz stepped onto the Ashe showcourt with his head almost completely shaven in the style of a gangbanger and used his racquet as a weapon to disarm the game of the American big server across the net.

The Spaniard made sure to bury any memories of his 2024 disaster here when he exited in the second round to Botic van De Zandschulp.

Alcaraz had to battle through at various stages of the night-time match to ease into the second round, breaking into a 5-4 lead in the third set after breaks in each of the two previous chapters.

“He’s a really tough player with that serve. I couldn’t get the rhythm that I wanted to get in the match,” the winner said.after defeating the season ace leader

“I’m just really happy with everything I’ve done today. I think the return was one of the best things I did today.

“I just tried to play my best tennis, tried to be focused on my serve. Overall, I think I had a really great performance.”

Opelka was held to just 14 by the seed as his annual tally rose to 669.

Alcaraz, the 2022 Open champion, now stands a flawless 19-0 in Grand Slam first rounds and improved to 55-6 on the season of six titles.

He last played  a week ago, winning the Cincinnati tuneup as finals opponent and ATP No. 1 Jannik Sinner was only able to last five games due to illness.

Alcaraz has now won his seventh straight match as he heads into a second-rounder against Italian Mattia Bellucci.

The 67th-ranked Opelka has now won here since 2021  

Casper Ruud ignored any of the possible marijuana smoke drifting his way on court, with the Norwegian advancing 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (5) over unseeded Austrian Stefan Ofner.

The 12th seed had complained  before the event of the fumes which seemed to envelop a practice court he was using.

“For me, this is the worst thing about New York. The smell is everywhere, even here on the courts. We have to accept it, but it’s not my favorite smell.”

“It’s quite annoying to be playing, tired, and just meters away, someone is smoking marijuana. We can’t do anything about it unless the law is reversed, but I have strong doubts that will happen.”

Ruud has won all three of his meetings with Ofner, whose mistakes and recovery from a wrist injury made easy pickings for the Scandinavian seed.

“He was struggling a bit in the first two sets,’’ Ruud said. “I got a lot of free points. I was playing good, aggressive as I could and also getting a lot of balls in and he was making some errors (43 unforced).

“The (third set) tiebreak was really close, a bit up and down, but I’m really happy to get it in the end. It was a great win for me in front of a great crowd as always.”

One-time No. 2 and double Roland Garros finalist Ruud has played three finals at the majors, also including here three years ago, where he lost to Alcaraz.

Ofner had not played since Wimbledon as he dealt with his wrist problem. Ruud played the exhibition-style mixed doubles final here last week with Iga Swiatek, with that pair defeated by doubles specialists and 2024 mixed winners  Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani.