NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz will begin his U.S. Open title defense against Roman Safiullin on Sunday in his first Grand Slam singles match since April, after a right wrist injury kept him out of the French Open and Wimbledon.
Alcaraz enters the final Grand Slam tournament of the season as the No. 2 seed and faces a Safiullin who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Safiullin upset Andrey Rublev and Joao Fonseca at the All England Club before Novak Djokovic eliminated him in four sets.
Alcaraz returned to competition in the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament, where he partnered with Serena Williams. He showed signs of rust during the event.
Alcaraz and Safiullin have split their two previous meetings. Safiullin defeated Alcaraz at the 2023 Paris Masters, while Alcaraz won their rematch at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Main draw action at the U.S. Open begins Sunday.
Zverev takes top seed
Alexander Zverev will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed after Jannik Sinner withdrew because of a knee injury.
Zverev, the French Open champion, will open against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
The projected men’s quarterfinal matchups include Zverev against No. 6 Alex de Minaur, Alcaraz against No. 8 Ben Shelton, No. 3 Felix Auger-Aliassime against No. 5 Flavio Cobolli, and No. 4 Djokovic against No. 7 Daniil Medvedev.
Other first-round matches
No. 10 seed Arthur Fils will face former No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round after winning the Cincinnati Open.
Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 U.S. Open champion, will play Matteo Berrettini in what will be Wawrinka’s final Grand Slam appearance before retirement. Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, defeated Wawrinka in four sets at the All England Club, with each set ending in a tiebreaker.
No. 23 seed Rublev will face 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic.
No. 13 Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the quarterfinals in New York last year, will open against Britain’s Arthur Fery, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals before Zverev eliminated him.