US Open Day 2: Djokovic Advances, Wozniacki crashes out
Defending champion Djokovic made a dominating start towards defending his crown as he lost just two games in his 6-1 6-0 6-1 victory against Italian Paolo Lorenzi. Djokovic hardly broke into a sweat and played as he was out for a stroll. Lorenzi offered little resistance and it was pretty clear that it was only a matter of time before Djokovic put Lorenzi out of his misery. Djokovic will definitely be banking on his good starts in matches to gain enough momentum by the time he reaches the semis.
He has gone down to Federer in the past two tournaments and he will definitely look to beat him this time to regain his crown. Djokovich will now play World No. 112 R.Silva in round two, which once again shouldn’t be too difficult for the defending champion. Fifth seed Jo Wilfred Tsonga also made short work of his opponent Karol Beck as he beat the Slovakian 6-3 6-1 7-6 to enter round two. Tsonga didn’t seem to have any trouble during the match and despite a jittery 3rd set, he was able to start the tournament on a strong note.
Sixth seed T.Berdych faced unseeded David Goffin in his first match. Federer fans will remember Goffin as the guy who knocked him out at the French open earlier this year. However, he won’t be getting to do that this time around as he was knocked out in his first round match. Though he put up a good fight, it wasn’t enough on the day as Berdych was easily the better man. In the end, Berdych won 7-5 6-3 6-3 and also advanced to the second round. He will now face world no. 80 J.Zopp in the second round.
The women’s draw saw the first upset of the US Open as Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out in the first round to world no. 96 I. Begu. Eighth seed Wozniacki lost 6-2 6-2 and registered only 4 winners throughout the match. Wozniacki later claimed that she was being hampered by injury and couldn’t hit the ball as she wanted to. Whatever be the reason, it was an important victory for her opponent as she will now gain a lot of momentum in the coming matches with this win.
This is the second time that Wozniacki has been ousted in the first round this season, having suffered the same fate at Wimbledon earlier. Serena Williams however didn’t provide any shocks, however, as she won her first round match easily. The Olympic champion beat C.Vandeweghe in straight sets to set up a second round match against Spain’s Sanchez. The other Williams sibling also made it to the second round and will now face sixth seed A.Kerber in the next match. 10th seed and French open runner-up Sara Errani also made it to round two, though she had to fight hard to take the game. She, however, prevailed to keep herself in contention.