Preview: Jaime Faria vs. Carlos Alcaraz- US Open prediction, form

Appearing in the second round of the US Open for the first time, Jaime Faria will hope to pull off the biggest upset of his career when he faces the number two seed, Carlos Alcaraz.

In his opening match, Faria ousted Jenson Brooksby in a lengthy affair, 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 1-6 6-2, while the reigning champion of this event earned a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over Roman Safiullin.

Match preview

Faria quickly made himself among the big villains on the US Open men’s draw this year, ousting the popular American in his opening match.

Faria seemed to thrive on the boos he got from the crowd at Flushing Meadows, coming on strong in the deciding set after a nearly epic comeback by Brooksby.

The Portuguese player has been making a name for himself on tour lately, upsetting Grigor Dimitrov in a French Open qualifier this year, while also beating Ben Shelton in the second round of this year’s Cincinnati Open.

Defeating Alcaraz would surely be a monumental step in his career and only the second time he will have earned a singles victory against a top 10 player.

Faria could make the third round of a Grand Slam singles event this week for only the second time in his career, after advancing to round three of the most recent French Open.

We saw a lot of good and bad in his opening match as he hit 14 aces and 14 double faults, while winning 69% of his first serves.

It was relatively smooth sailing for Carlos Alcaraz in his opener as he needed just over two hours to advance against Safiullin.

He hit five double faults, but managed to convert four of his seven break point opportunities, while conceding only one.

His second serve was particularly sharp as Alcaraz won 70% of those to power himself to another triumph at Flushing Meadows.

In only one of his last 17 Grand Slam singles matches has the seven-time major tournament champion been eliminated in round two, with Botic van de Zandschulp beating him at this event in straight sets back in 2024.

Alcaraz is on quite the roll at Flushing Meadows, though, having won 21 of his last 22 sets at this singles tournament.

Meanwhile, he has only lost one second-round set on the Grand Slam singles tour since the start of 2025, with Hungarian Fabian Marozsan winning one set against the Spaniard at last year’s French Open, though the latter advanced in four sets.

Tournament so far

Jaime Faria:

First round: vs. Jenson Brooksby 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 1-6 6-2

Carlos Alcaraz:

First round: vs. Roman Safiullin 6-4 6-4 6-4

We say: Alcaraz to win in three sets

Faria is quite the character and a very interesting person to watch, but he's far too error-prone for us to believe he can outlast a player as seasoned as Alcaraz.