Carlos Alcaraz vs Mattia Bellucci Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Alcaraz to coast into third round

Debuting his new buzzcut under the lights in primetime, Alcaraz got his US Open title quest off to a business-like start, toppling the dangerous Reilly Opelka in straight sets. For someone who is known to suffer from concentration lapses in these early round slam matches, it was an impressive victory for Alcaraz, who created 11 break points on the giant American's serve. With the chance to overtake rival Jannik Sinner for the World No. 1 ranking this tournament, Alcaraz will be hoping to conserve as much energy as possible for the final rounds.

Bellucci is enjoying his first full year on the main tour and he's had his moments at various stages throughout the season, but he's likely to be outclassed here. The Italian actually prefers faster and lower-bouncing surfaces, so these US Open courts should be to his liking, but if Alcaraz is dialled in and focused, then this should be another straightforward victory to the Spaniard.

This will be the first tour-level meeting between the pair. Alcaraz was a dominant 6-2 6-1 winner at a Futures event in Manacor back in 2020.

Alcaraz heads into this encounter with a tour-leading 55 match wins for the season (with just six defeats) and claiming six titles.

Sensationally, Alcaraz has made at least the final of his last seven consecutive tournaments.

Indeed, Alcaraz has won titles in Monte Carlo, Rome, Roland Garros, Queen's and Cincinnati, along with runner-up appearances at Barcelona and Wimbledon.

The Spaniard was dealt a tricky opening round draw at the US Open, but produced a workmanlike performance to chop down the big-serving Reilly Opelka by a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 score.

Alcaraz will now be trying to avoid a repeat of last year in New York, where he suffered a shock second round defeat in straight sets to Botic Van De Zandschulp.

Bellucci comes into this contest with a 11-14 record at tour-level for the season and at No. 65 in the world, which is just two spots off his career-high.

The Italian's main highlight on tour in 2025 was a semi-final run as a qualifier at the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam, where he took advantage of the slumping Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas before going down to Alex de Minaur.

Bellucci also made the third round of Wimbledon, taking out 25th seed Jiri Lehecka along the way.

Opening round defeats in Toronto and Cincinnati weren't great, but Bellucci did pick up a Challenger title in Sumter before arriving at the US Open, where he secured a first main draw win at the tournament when Juncheng Shang retired in the fourth set.