Who is Botic van de Zandschulp, the Dutch player who beat Carlos Alcaraz at US Open?
Botic van de Zandschulp, 28, currently ranked No. 78 in the world, is no stranger to big upsets. At his peak in August 2022, he reached No. 22 in the rankings, a year where he set new career highs 14 times, ending with a 38-29 record in men’s singles matches.
Dutch tennis star makes history
With this victory, van de Zandschulp made history as the first Dutchman to defeat a top-three player at a Grand Slam since Richard Krajicek's win over Pete Sampras in the 1996 Wimbledon quarterfinals. However, this isn't his first major upset—he previously took down world No. 12 Taylor Fritz in the ATP Munich semifinals in 2023, before losing to Holger Rune in the final for the second year in a row. He also defeated world No. 8 Casper Ruud on his way to the ATP Munich final in 2022, and overcame world No. 6 Andrey Rublev to reach the St. Petersburg semifinal in 2021.
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Zandschulp makes his mark in US Open
Van de Zandschulp has also made his mark at the U.S. Open. In 2021, the Wageningen native became just the third men’s qualifier to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals in the Open Era, and the first Dutchman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since 2004. However, he hasn’t advanced that far in a Grand Slam since then. This year, prior to the U.S. Open, he held a 1-3 record in Grand Slam matches, with his best performance being a second-round appearance at Wimbledon.
Entering Thursday night’s match, van de
