US Open Day 2 Round-up: Federer, Murray, Halep and Wawrinka in Round 2
Day 2 of the US Open has shown the male seeds to have had significantly better luck than the women at the US Open, with all seeded players except Frenchman Gilles Simon advancing to the next round of the tournament.
Simon, seeded 11th, lost his match against Donald Young of the USA.
Second seed Roger Federer beat Argentinian Leonardo Mayer in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to take a quick victory. The Swiss played a flawless game, hitting four aces to wrap up the first set in under 20 minutes. Winning 84% of his first serves, Federer hit a total of 12 aces in the match, bringing out the latest shot in his arsenal – the second-serve charge, which completely confused the Argentine.
Third-seeded Andy Murray played Australian ‘bad boy’ Nick Kyrgios in the pair’s first round match at Flushing Meadows. They have had two prior Grand Slam meetings this year, with the Scot beating the Australian in straight sets each time.
This was not the case yesterday, with Murray ultimately taking the win in 4 sets. Kyrgios showed some promise early on, winning his first service game and proceeding to take the next one following a miss by the Scot. But Murray came back in the next game with a triple break point, eventually taking it.
It was at that point Kyrgios’ infamous behaviour was on full display on court once again, as the Australian mouthed insults at fans, apparently unhappy that they were still trickling into the stadium in the “middle of the game”, describing it as “f*****ng unreal.”
The pair had 5 games apiece, with Murray’s strong forehand taking it to 6-5 as Kyrgios served for a first-set tiebreaker. But Murray broke serve decisively to take the first set 7-5.
With one game apiece in the second set, Kyrgios was locked in a corner-to-corner baseline rally with the Scot when his sweat-covered racquet flew out of his hand.
The Australian showed flashes of his talent throughout the match, but the more experienced, strategic Murray wrested it back from Kyrgios, who lost focus after winning the third set.
The pair’s match went to four sets, with the Scot winning 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. He will face France’s Adrian Mannarino next.
Swiss ace Stan Wawrinka faced Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas for the fifth time, beating him in three sets 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(6). He has bested the Spaniard in every one of their previous 4 meetings.
Second-seed Simona Halep advanced to round 2 as well. She took the first set easily, with Erakovic retiring 3 games into the second set with a knee injury. She will next face Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Fourth seeded Caroline Wozniacki easily routed American Jamie Loeb, who won the NCAA women’s title earlier this year, beating her 6-2, 6-0.
Italy’s Sara Errani, seeded 16th at the tournament, made easy work of her unseeded Japanese competitor Mayo Hibi, beating her 6-0, 6-1.
Upsets
While the men shone on Day 2, more seeded female players continued to drop out of the tournament.
6th seed Lucie Safarova suffered a straight-set loss to Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, who won 6-4, 6-1. The two met at the semi-finals of the Connecticut Open last week, where Safarova had taken victory. She would eventually lose the title at that tournament to Petra Kvitova.
Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, seeded 14th, also lost her first round match to Czech Barbora Strycova, who defeated her 7-5, 6-0.
Tempers flying across court
While Nick Kyrgios may have lost his cool on court, this behaviour was not unexpected in the least.
Victoria Azarenka, 20th seeded at the Open, also won her match against Czech Lucie Hradecka in straight sets, but got into a skirmish with chair umpire Aurelie Tourte. In a display of what could be described as Kyrgios-like behaviour, Azarenka, unhappy with a line call, walked up to Tourte, asking her “Did you ever play tennis?”
When the umpire responded in the affirmative, Azarenka called “well, you probably weren’t very good.”
Round 1 of the doubles at the US Open will begin today, with the Indo-Romanian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, seeded 6th at the tournament, due to play American doubles partners Nick Monroe and Austin Krajicek tonight.