Tennis player Bottic van de Zandscholpe failed to reach the third round at the US Open. The world number 65 lost after a good start 1-6 6-1 6-3 6-3 to Briton Dan Evans, ranked 26th in New York.
Van de Zandschulp got off to a brisk start on runway 11 at Flushing Meadows. He broke his Briton twice in the first set and used a second set point just over half an hour later.
In the second, Evans managed to win his serve match against Van de Zandsholb for the first time with a 2-1 lead, thanks in part to a stellar backhand pass. The break gave the Briton clear energy and the Dutchman let her go through the rest of the first set.
Evans had the better of the match in the third and fourth sets. With the alternating tennis, Van de Zandsholb, who has a bit of a match rhythm, was forced to make mistakes. The Dutchman made 38 unnecessary mistakes and scored 34 winning goals. Evans generated almost twice as many winners as he made unnecessary errors: 29 to 15.
Evans put the break at 2-1 in the fourth set. At 4-2, Van de Zandsholb had another chance to cancel out the break, but failed to complete an apparently simple shot. Evans came to the ball, which was too powerful for the Dutchman. After 2 hours and 41 minutes he used his third game point. And he ended the match with a powerful blow.
Earlier in the US hard court season, the 33-year-old Evans had already beaten the Greek Talon. It was in the final of the Washington ATP Championships, which is one of the preparatory tournaments for the US Open.
In the final stage, Van de Zandsholb seemed to have hurt his foot and went several times into the corners with difficulty. Then he looked to the side, and shook his head. In the run-up to the US Open, the Dutch No. 2 player missed a month and a half with an ankle injury. Not long ago, he had a foot injury.
Last year, Van de Zandscholpe also lost in the second round of the US Open. A year earlier, he reached the quarter-finals on his debut.
The 27-year-old Van de Zandsholb will now prepare for the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals. The Netherlands will compete with Croatia, Finland and the United States in the Croatian city of Split in mid-September.
Van de Zandschulp was the last Dutchman still active in singles at the US Open. The Greek track and Arantxa Ross were eliminated in the first round on Tuesday.
