NEW YORK (AFP) — Carlos Alcaraz got off to a sluggish start, but stormed home, and Aryna Sabalenka was in control all the way as the defending champions led a stream of contenders into the third round of the US Open on Wednesday

Alcaraz, seeded second in his first tournament since a wrist injury forced him to the sidelines in April, got off to a sluggish start but finished in convincing fashion in a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 victory over 72nd-ranked Jaime Faria of Portugal.

Alcaraz won his seventh major title at the Australian Open in January but arrived in New York an unknown quantity after a wrist injury forced a four-month layoff that saw him miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

He dispelled doubts with a straight-sets first-round victory over Roman Safiullin but took some time to find his range against the big-serving Faria, who claimed the first break of the match for a 4-3 lead in the first when Alcaraz flubbed a forehand.

He made the break stand up to take the set, but Alcaraz stepped up his intensity and Faria folded under the pressure.

“Tough match for me,” Alcaraz said, adding that after failing to convert an early break point he briefly lost his composure.

“After that I was in a rush. I didn’t take time, I wasn’t patient and that obviously cost me the break,” he said.

“I tried to stay calm. I think good things are going to happen again.”

Meanwhile, a ruthless Sabalenka took the next step on the road to a rare US Open three-peat with a 6-1, 6-1 rout of 160th-ranked Russian qualifier Polina Iatcenko that lasted just 53 minutes.

Sabalenka, without a title since her impressive Indian Wells-Miami double in March, delivered 24 winners, showcasing her power from the baseline and an effective touch at the net.

She dropped just four points on serve in the opening set and was broken just once to give Iatcenko her only game of the second set. Sabalenka responded by winning the next three to secure the win.

“Happy with the level I played today, happy with the focus,” said Sabalenka, who will face Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova for place in the Round of 16.

Jessica Pegula and former champion Daniil Medvedev also raced into the third round.

World No. 3 Pegula needed just 56 minutes to trounce Sofia Kenin, the former Australian Open champion now ranked 110th, 6-3, 6-1.

Seventh-seeded Medvedev downed US wild card Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 6-3, 7-5.

Pegula, who is among a trio of players who could supplant Sabalenka atop the world rankings in New York, dropped just seven points on serve.

“I was just trying to stay focused on what I needed to do,” said the 2024 US Open runner-up, who next meets another former finalist in Canadian Leylah Fernandez — a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1.

Medvedev, who has struggled in the hardcourt build-up to the year’s final Grand Slam, dominated 731st-ranked Gorzny.

Eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton prevailed in a tense “battle to the end” with former world number six Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.

His 11th-seeded compatriot Frances Tiafoe also advanced, holding off Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 7-5.

Another American tipped as a contender — in-form 16th-seed Brandon Nakashima — bowed out, upset by 46th-ranked compatriot Alex Michelsen 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Argentina’s Mariano Navone backed up his epic five-set upset of Serbian star Novak Djokovic with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Italian Matteo Berrettini.

Outside the covered confines of Ashe and the Louis Armstrong Stadium, rain again disrupted play.

Sixth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur finally got his campaign underway in a match postponed from Tuesday but had to wait out another mid-match rain delay on the way to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 first-round victory over Italian Andrea Guerrieri.

Lucky loser Bu Yunchaokete of China pulled off a first-round upset, stunning 12th-seeded Spaniard Rafael Jodar 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.

Jodar committed 37 unforced errors with just 15 winners in a humbling defeat for the 19-year rising ATP star, who won the ATP title in Marrakech this year and reached the final in Washington and the semis in Montreal in recent weeks.