Alcaraz wins US Open comeback match after four-month injury layoff

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz opened his US Open title defense with a straight-sets win over Russia's Roman Safiullin on Monday, marking his return to competitive singles tennis after a four-month layoff caused by a wrist injury.

Alcaraz won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium, his first tour-level singles match since withdrawing from the Barcelona Open in April. The injury forced him to miss the French Open, where he was the two-time defending champion, as well as Wimbledon. "I had a little bit of doubt, but I tried to forget everything and focus on the things I needed to improve," Alcaraz said afterward, according to a recap published by the tournament. He will next face Portugal's Jaime Faria in the second round.

Alcaraz's win headlined an opening day at Flushing Meadows that also saw defending women's champion Aryna Sabalenka open her three-peat bid with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Colombia's Camila Osorio, and a notable upset as Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated Arthur Fils, the tournament's 10th seed and reigning Cincinnati Open champion, in a four-set battle that went 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-4. Britain's Harriet Dart also advanced, rallying from a set and a break down to beat Peyton Stearns 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Karolina Muchová, Amanda Anisimova and Britain's Jacob Fearnley were among the other winners on the tournament's first full day of singles play.

Alcaraz enters the tournament ranked among the game's top contenders despite the layoff, having won the 2025 US Open over Jannik Sinner in a match widely regarded as one of the sport's best finals in years. His extended absence — nearly four months without a competitive match — had raised questions about his form and fitness heading into the year's final Grand Slam, questions Monday's straightforward win did little to fully answer given Safiullin's modest ranking, but which nonetheless offered an early signal that the Spaniard's wrist has recovered.

The men's draw remains wide open in Alcaraz's absence from clay and grass majors this season, with Sinner, Novak Djokovic and a deep field of contenders all in the field at Flushing Meadows. Tournament officials confirmed that Monday's play proceeded without weather interruption, a contrast to some recent editions of the event, and that crowds at Arthur Ashe Stadium were near capacity for the afternoon session featuring Alcaraz.

The tournament continues through the first week with second-round matches beginning Wednesday.

Alcaraz's return is one of the storylines organizers had hoped would headline the tournament's opening days, given his rivalry with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and his status as a two-time defending champion at Roland Garros before this year's injury-forced absence. Sabalenka, for her part, is chasing a third consecutive US Open women's singles title after winning in 2024 and 2025 — a three-peat no woman has managed since Serena Williams won three straight US Open crowns ending in 2014 — and her straight-sets opener kept that bid on track. With Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic all alive in the men's draw and Sabalenka the clear favorite among the women, tournament officials and broadcasters framed the opening rounds as a rare alignment of the sport's biggest current stars all appearing fit and in form simultaneously, a contrast to recent majors disrupted by injury withdrawals.