Will the Spaniard clear the next hurdle as well?
Carlos Alcaraz had a 139-day break from competition following his injury, which forced him to withdraw from the tournament in Barcelona in mid-April. And yet, in his 3-0 victory over Roman Safiullin on Monday, the Spaniard looked as if he’d never been away. We therefore have little doubt that, in the second-round match between Jaime Faria and Carlos Alcaraz, our prediction of a victory for the two-time U.S. Open champion—who has won 25 of his 28 singles matches at Flushing Meadows to date—will hold true.
The real question is whether Jaime Faria—who had to go the full distance in his 3-2 opening victory over Jenson Brooksby, spending three hours and 46 minutes on the court—can keep the match at least somewhat competitive. However, we do not anticipate this in our Jaime Faria vs. Carlos Alcaraz prediction. After all, the Spaniard was simply too dominant, winning a strong 59 percent of points on his second serve and saving five out of six break points. Accordingly, it makes sense to predict that Carlitos will follow up with his second 3-0 victory right here at Flushing Meadows.
While the up-and-coming Portuguese player is certainly in strong form and has won six of his last seven singles matches, the man from Lisbon has rarely faced the world’s elite. His 2-0 victory over Ben Shelton at the Western & Southern Open was also his very first win ever against a current top-10 player. We therefore don’t even expect the underdog to push the two-time U.S. Open champion to a tiebreak, which also opens up the possibility for an interesting side bet.
Jaime Faria – Carlos Alcaraz Head-to-Head Record
Head-to-Head: 0:0
The two players have never faced each other before. Consequently, there is no “head-to-head” data available that could influence our Jaime Faria vs. Carlos Alcaraz prediction in any way.
Jaime Faria vs. Carlos Alcaraz Prediction
It remains to be seen whether the defending champion is truly back to his old self after a 139-day injury layoff and has what it takes to compete for the title in New York City during a tournament spanning over two weeks. What’s clear, however, is that Carlos Alcaraz’s convincing 3-0 opening victory turned heads. The Spaniard is the top favorite at virtually all bookmakers and now faces an opponent who has never before made it past the second round at the US Open—and who only advanced to that round in the first place thanks to a narrow 3-2 victory over Jenson Brooksby.
In our assessment, there is therefore strong evidence that the Spaniard will not slip up in this Iberian showdown against the Lisbon native and will cruise into the third round with another 3-0 victory. For this match, Betano is offering odds of 1.88 on Jaime Faria vs. Carlos Alcaraz, and we’re betting four out of ten units on it.
