US Open Day
Highlights of the second day at the U.S. Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday. World number one Novak Djokovic overcame a mid-match wobble before beating cramping Danish teenager Holger Rune in four sets to reach the second round. German Alexander Zverev got his bid for a maiden major off to a smooth start by beating American Sam Querrey 6-4 7-5 6-2 in the first round of the U.S. Open.
Querrey kept the match close through the first two sets but was stymied by unforced errors as 2020 runner-up Zverev kept his game comparatively clean and fired off 25 winners. World number one Ash Barty was made to sweat for a 6-1 7-6(7) win over Vera Zvonareva and a spot in the second round of the U.S. Open. The top-seeded Australian came out firing on all cylinders and raced to a 3-0 lead in a rapid-fire opening set that was over in 24 minutes.
Belinda Bencic, playing with a newfound sense of freedom after winning a gold medal in the singles competition at the Tokyo Olympics, breezed past Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-4 6-4 to reach the second round of the U.S. Open. Bencic, who reached the U.S. Open semi-finals in 2019 and sat out last year’s tournament amid the COVID-19 outbreak, used a solid service game to improve to 3-0 all-time against the left-handed Rus. World number four Karolina Pliskova fired off eight aces to defeat American wild card Caty McNally 6-3 6-4 in the first round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday as she bids for an elusive maiden major. Seventh seed Iga Swiatek, youngest of 12 major champions in the women’s draw, breezed into the second round with a 6-3 6-4 win over American Jamie Loeb.
There were some upsets too as American Maxime Cressy came back from two sets down to stun Spanish ninth seed Pablo Carreno Busta 5-7 4-6 6-1 6-4 7-6(7). The highlight of the day was Andreas Seppi defeating Marton Fucsovics after saving as many as four match points. Italian world number eight Matteo Berrettini, a U.S. Open semi-finalist two years ago, found his rhythm after two tough sets to overcome Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. Apart from Busta, not many major upsets. Khachanov lost to an unseeded was another one. With the way US Open is going, it seems like it is creating more energy with each passing day. American Riley Opelka was on fire as he hit 3 aces past South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon to claim a 7-6(3) 6-4 6-4 victory. David Goffin losing was definitely the biggest upset of the day.
We head towards day three where a lot of action in women’s tennis will be seen. Doubles and mixed doubles will also go underway soon. Indian contingent players will be in action soon and hopefully, we have some Indian fans at the stadiums which are mostly jam-packed. The crowd presence is what has made the tournament alive and as we move to the next week for the business end of the tournament.