Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz bested Portugal’s Jaime Faria to continue his US Open title defence in New York. The Spaniard lost the opening set against the Portuguese but bounced back to win the next three to win 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday.

Faria broke Alcaraz’s serve in the seventh game of the opening set despite the latter leading by 30-0. However, Alcaraz was able to get an early break in the second game of the second set and went on to bagel his opponent.

In the third set, Alcaraz once again got an early break in the second game but Faria was able to break back to put the match back on serve. However, Alcaraz lifted his level and clinched the third set to take the lead for the first time in the match.

The Spaniard admitted he didn’t take his time on forehands in the opening set, which led him to lose the opening set.

“The first set, I was feeling great, had a break point and a pretty easy forehand for me that I missed. I was in a rush. I didn’t take time. I wasn’t patient,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “That cost me the break. Against someone like Jaime, he’s serving like 140 [mph], every serve is really difficult.

“After that, I just tried to be focused and stay calm and think that good things are going to happen again.”

Alcaraz will next take on China’s Wu Yibing, who ousted James Duckworth 7-5, 6-3, 6-1, in the third round of the New York Major. The Spaniard leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 1-0 against the Chinese. Their solitary meeting came in Shanghai back in 2024.