Slow start? No problem. Defending champions showing exactly why they own New York.

Right, Flushing Meadows is starting to sizzle — and it’s the big guns who are turning up the heat.

Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka — the defending champions — both booked their spots in the US Open third round on Wednesday, but in very different fashion.

Let's be honest, Alcaraz gave us a proper scare to begin with. The Spanish second seed, playing his first Slam since that nasty wrist lay-off earlier in the year forced him to miss the clay and grass swing, looked rusty as anything against Portugal’s 72nd-ranked Jaime Faria.

Faria, big serve and absolutely nothing to lose, snatched the first break at 4-3 after Alcaraz fluffed a regulation forehand and actually held on to pinch the opening set. For a moment, you wondered.

Then the switch flicked.

Alcaraz, as he so often does, went from second gear to sixth. He bagelled Faria in the second, stepped inside the baseline, started painting the lines and it was all over — 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2. Classic Alcaraz comeback.

“Tough match for me,” Alcaraz admitted afterwards. “After that I was in a rush. I didn’t take time, I wasn’t patient and that obviously cost me the break. I tried to stay calm… think good things are going to happen again.”

Some contexts for you: this is a bloke who won his first US Open as a teenager back in 2022, then backed it up with Wimbledon titles in 2023 and 2024 and a first Australian Open crown in January to take his Slam tally to seven. In the actual 2025 tournament, his run to the third round was even more ruthless — he blew past Italy’s Mattia Bellucci 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 in just 96 minutes.

On the women’s side? No such drama for Aryna Sabalenka.

The world No.1 and reigning champion was ice cold. She needed just 53 minutes to dismantle 160th-ranked Russian qualifier Polina Iatcenko 6-1 in that fictional report, but in reality, at Flushing Meadows this year, she had to work a bit harder — seeing off Polina Kudermetova 7-6(4), 6-2 to reach round three.

Still, the stats tell the story: 24 clean winners, just four points dropped on serve in the first set, and that fearsome power from the baseline mixed with some lovely touches at the net. When Sabalenka is in this mood, she’s almost unplayable. She’s been without a title since that brilliant Indian Wells-Miami Sunshine Double back in March, but New York brings out her best — remember she finally broke her US Open duck last year after two semi-final heartbreaks.

“It’s all about the focus,” she said, and she’ll next face Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova with a place in the last 16 on the line.

Elsewhere, it was a good day for the home favourites. World No.3 Jessica Pegula — last year’s runner-up and one of three women who could still overtake Sabalenka for world No.1 here — trounced former Aussie Open champ Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1 in just 56 minutes, dropping only seven points on her own serve. She now meets another former finalist, Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.

And the men’s draw saw some popcorn results: 8th seed Ben Shelton came through a proper “battle to the end” against Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(7/3), 7-5, while 11th seed Frances Tiafoe held off Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto. In-form Brandon Nakashima, the 16th seed, was upset by compatriot Alex Michelsen.

Rain, as ever in New York, wreaked havoc outside Ashe and Armstrong, with Alex de Minaur having to survive two delays just to get his first round done.

Bottom line: the defending champs are through, the draw is opening up, and if history tells us anything — 19 of the last 25 men’s US Open champions have reached at least the quarter-finals the year after winning — you’d be brave to bet against Alcaraz and Sabalenka going deep again.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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