September 19, 2024
The 2023 US Open is officially underway and there was no shortage of action across the grounds at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
Here’s what you may have missed from Day 1 in New York.
World No.1 Iga Swiatek stormed to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson in just 57 minutes to move into the second round.
The Pole improved to 18-1 in Grand Slam openers, and 5-0 in US Open first rounds, to book a last-64 meeting with Australian Daria Saville.
She joked on court that Frances Tiafoe, who was next up on Arthur Ashe stadium following her match, had asked her not to finish off her opponent too fast so he wouldn’t have to rush to be ready for his first round against fellow American Learner Tien.
Coco Gauff was made to sweat against the always tricky Laura Siegemund, the American teenager needing two hours and 51 minutes to complete a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
With former First couple Barack and Michelle Obama watching from the stands, Gauff had to dig deep to overcome Siegemund and set up an exciting second-round clash with 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva.
During the match, the No.6 seed complained to umpire Marijana Veljovic about Siegemund taking too much time to get ready for Gauff’s serves.
Former champion Dominic Thiem ended a seven-match losing run at the Grand Slams with a smooth 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over No.25 seed Alexander Bublik in under two hours.
It was Thiem’s first match-win at the US Open since his title run in New York back in 2020, and his first at a major since 2021 Australian Open.
It’s been a long road for Thiem trying to recover his form after a career-threatening wrist injury and the former world No.3 is now on the cusp of returning the top 70 for the first time in 16 months.
Next up for the 29-year-old Austrian is home favourite Ben Shelton, who posted the first US Open match-win of his career with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 result against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin on Monday.
Roberto Carballes Baena entered his showdown with No.4 seed Holger Rune carrying a 0-13 record against top-10 opponents throughout his career.
On Monday though, the Spanish world No.63 snapped that losing streak to knock out Rune 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the US Open second round for a fourth consecutive year.
Rune has not won a match since Wimbledon and is on a four-match losing streak (six if you include Hopman Cup).
World No.71 Rebeka Masarova had never won any of her four previous matches against top-10 opponents and owned just two match-wins in Grand Slam main draws entering this US Open.
Still none of that stopped the Spaniard from producing a big upset on Monday morning in New York, dismissing No.8 seed Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-4 to book a second-round meeting with Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Sakkari, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, has now lost her last four consecutive matches at the majors.
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