Alcaraz eliminated at the US Open by Van de Zandschulp. Sinner and the others, formidable Italians

My elementary school teacher – “maestra Levi,” as everyone in Case Nuove greeted her with deference – would use her big blue pencil to mark the event on the calendar hanging behind her. She would say, “Today is a special day, kids.” She would teach us the names of the six Italians who advanced to the third round of the US Open, spelling them out loud in alphabetical order, Arnaldi, Cobolli, Errani, Musetti, Paolini, Sinner, and he would have added stentorian: “Things like this rarely happen”. Then, explaining to us that even losers must be respected, he would have told us that “the three players with the B for ox, who are Berrettini, Bellucci and Bronzetti, and one with the C for dog, Cocciaretto, will no longer play in New York. But they are still very good, eh!”. The best of all, and also a winner, is not Italian and has a name that not even the teacher Levi would have been able to pronounce: Botic From the Zandschulp. Those who read Monday’s Net know him well, because I have often written about him: Dutch from Wageningen, born in 1995, number 74 ATP, who exploded late after a career in his backyard (before Covid he had practically never played away from the Netherlands). A classic player, good fundamentals but nothing transcendental, late in the closing stages he accomplished the feat of a lifetime: eliminating in three sets (6-1 7-5 6-4) the winner of the last two slams, Alcaraz. The Spaniard had no physical problems: he was simply overwhelmed. In all the partials Botic led the dance, even if in the second and third sets he had to bend the resistance of the young opponent, determined to sell his skin dearly. The consequence was a tennis at times of very high quality and tension.

Botic had a handful of times had the chance to defeat a Top 10 player. He had only succeeded last year in Miami, when he eliminated Casper Ruud, then in a very difficult moment of his career. Now he becomes the man to beat: on his path he could find, in the semifinals, Jannik Sinner. In the meantime, in the next round he will face the British Jack Draper. Sixty years have passed since the lessons of the teacher Levi, so don’t shoot your reporter who can’t follow on four courts – the Arthur Ashe, the 11th, the 12th and the 7th – our boys simultaneously engaged in the early afternoon at Flushing Meadows, Jannik Sinner, Matteo Arnaldi, Mattia Bellucci and Sara Errani. Technology helps, of course, but the exercise of ubiquity confuses my ideas a bit.

Luckily, the South Tyrolean and the Sanremo native have, yes, clearer ideas and also a better ability to concentrate than me. The world number 1 takes about twenty minutes to get going, then he makes meatballs of the unfortunate Californian Alex Michelsen, 20 years old, ATP 49, already eliminated a couple of weeks ago at Cincinnati(the Italians are his nightmare: last Saturday in the final of the 250 in Winston-Salem he was hit with balls by Lorenzo Sonego). The match lasted a total of one hour and 41 minutes, the clarity of the result (6-4 6-0 6-2) shows that the work done with Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi after the tense first round served to give confidence to the winner of the Australian Open. As is typical of players aiming for the title, his form is visibly growing within each individual match and as the rounds are passed. In this, Novak Djokovic is a master, in twenty years of slams he has accustomed us to seeing him start out struggling and then close every major tournament sensationally. And, as I have said many times, Jannik and Nole have a similar approach to the atomic and extended competitive phase. They are also similar in the analysis of their own performances: they prefer to underline how much there is to improve rather than highlight the fundamentals that already work.

I have devoted more time and attention to Arnaldi’s commitment, which on paper is full of pitfalls. His opponent, Roman Safiullin, 27 years old, ATP 57, arrived late in the tennis Olympus, a couple of years ago, after a series of participations and successes in the Futures (until 2018 the dates of the ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour were called this way) and in the Challengers. A solid and powerful player, on August 18 he beat Bellucci in the final in Cary, North Carolina. At the start Matteo is careful not to give any space, aware as he is that the Russian is used to very hard-fought marathons. Alessandro Petrone’s student, born in 2001, does everything well, from serving to preparing the winners, and above all he puts himself in a position to make few mistakes. Having taken the first set at 6-2, in the following partials he places one more break and goes on to close both at 6-4. Impeccable performance, in line with those of recent times, finally up to the level of last season’s exploits. On Saturday he will face Jordan Thompson, who is two places ahead of him in the live ranking (he is 30). The Australian, 30 years old, surprisingly defeated Polish Hubert Hurkacz, seeded number 7, today with a score of 7-6 6-1 7-5. The Belgian who on court 7 is packed like an egg waiting for Fabio Cobolli is another tough nut to crack: his name is Zizou Bergs, he is 25 years old, and during the season he has played excellent tennis. The Roman born in 2002 gives up the first set, takes the second with ease and performs a miracle in the third, canceling two set points on the return at 3-5 and converting his only set point when he is ahead 6-5. In the fourth set he does not miss the immediate opportunity to break which he then defends and doubles: 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-3. The commendable Mattia Bellucci had not managed to do the same, a few hours earlier, stuck (6-4 6-4 3-6 3-6) in the very tidy net of Chris O’Connell, the Australian who will be Sinner’s next opponent. Nor will Elisabetta Cocciaretto succeed, in the Italian night, despite giving it her all against the very experienced Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (5-7 6-1 6-2). I can personally testify, however, that Sara Errani’s second set against the American Caroline Dolehide, a doubles player so expert that she has played six slam semifinals, is textbook. The player from Romagna surprises with the concreteness and determination that she usually reserves for matches alongside Jasmine Paolini. Effective even when serving, her Achilles heel since she was a junior, today she often goes to the net, does not provide points of reference, constantly changes the game plan. At 37, she is quicker and more lucid than her opponent, born in 1998. The gold medalist in Paris is extraordinary in both twelfth games, when she returns: she needs three match points in the first case but only needs one in the second to crystallize the double 7-5. Also cheering for her, in the corner, is Jasmine, who shortly before had remained on the court for a minute and a half in her match against the former WTA number 1 Karolina Pliskova, victim of an injury in the third exchange. In the late afternoon in New York, the Olympic champions debut in the doubles tournament against the Japanese Miyu Kato and the Chinese Yafan Wang, who they regulate 6-3 6-2. I take this opportunity to point out that Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori also passed the first round of the men’s doubles tournament by beating the American-Norwegian pair formed by William Blumberg and Casper Ruud 6-3 6-4. They would have made the two blue super couples, my teacher, happy, with all those Ks, Ys and Ws sent home.