Van de Zandschulp loses to Evans in four sets at the US Open

Van de Zandschulp started well on Runway 11 of Flushing Meadows. He broke his British opponent’s serve twice in the first set and used the deciding point in the second set after just over half an hour.

In the second, Evans won Van de Zandschulp’s service game for the first time with a 2-1 lead, thanks in part to a brilliant backhand pass. The break gave the British player clear energy, and for the rest of the first set, the Dutchman left things as they were.

In the third and fourth sets, Evans was the best in the match. With the variety of tennis, Van de Zandschulp, who has little competitive rhythm, was forced to make errors. The Dutchman made 38 unnecessary errors and scored 34 winners. Evans almost scored twice as many winners as he made as many unnecessary errors: 29 to 15.

Evans made the decisive break at 2-1 in the fourth set. At 4-2, Van de Zandschulp had another chance to hit back on the break, but failed to finish what looked to be a fairly simple shot. Evans threw a ball that was too powerful for the Dutchman. After two hours and 41 minutes, he used his third match point. He ended the match with a powerful kick.

The 33-year-old Evans had already beaten Talon Grekpoor earlier in the US hard court season. It was in the final of the Washington ATP Championships, one of the preparation tournaments for the US Open.

In the final stage, Van de Zandschulp appeared to hurt his foot and struggled to get into corners several times. Then he looked to the side, and shook his head. In the lead-up to the US Open, the Dutch No. 2 was sidelined for a month and a half with an ankle injury. Not long ago, a foot injury bothered him.

Last year, Van de Zandschulp also lost in the second round of the US Open. A year earlier, he reached the quarter-finals in his first appearance.

The 27-year-old Van de Zandschulp 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. Greek Spoor and Arantxa Rus were eliminated in the first round on Tuesday.