Author: Barkha Roy
In the men’s singles, Argentinian tennis player Sebastian Baez advanced to the third round after Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves suffered an Achilles tendon injury in his left leg and was forced to end his match early. Baez was leading 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4, and Alves left the court in the fourth set. Baez’s next opponent will be third seed Daniil Medvedev, who knocked out Christopher O’Connell.
In the first round of the men’s doubles, Italian-Brazilian pair Yuki Bhambri and Marcelo Demoliner failed to beat the ninth-placed Zielinski/Nies duo. Despite their best efforts, Bhambri/Demoliner struggled with their serve, failing to register any aces and committing four double faults. They didn’t have any break point chances, and Zielinski and Nice converted 2 out of 5 chances, also showing a good serving percentage. That secured a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
In the first round of the women’s doubles, the Brazilian-Belarusian duo Beatriz Haddad Maia/Victoria Azarenka won a crushing 6-3 6-0 victory over the Hungarian pair Bondar/Babos. They won with a combination of powerful play and consistent serving. Although they hit two aces, they had some problems with seven double faults. However, the effective implementation of break points – winning 6 out of 11 chances – showed their control over the match. The Brazilian-Belarusian pair showed excellent reception skills, scoring 33 reception points against 29 for their opponents.
In another first round match, Russian pair Pavlyuchenkova/Kalinskaya faced the formidable Brazilian/American duo Louise Stefani/JenniferBrady. Despite having an 80% first serve rate, Pavlyuchenkova and Kalinskaya struggled to gain an advantage, scoring just 57% of their first serve points. Stephanie and Brady, on the other hand, have been more efficient, with a 75% first serve win rate. They had 4 break points out of 4, while the Russian pair managed just 1 out of 4. Stephanie and Brady secured a convincing 6-1, 6-4 victory
In the opening round of the mixed doubles at the US Open, the Brazilian-Czech pair Marcelo Melo/Siniaková faced a challenging battle against the British-American duo Jamie Murray/Mattek-Sands. Melo and Siniaková performed well with 4 aces, but struggled with double faults, committing 6. The two teams had a similar first serve percentage, with 59% for Melo and Siniaková and 54% for Murray and Mattek-Sands. However, the British-American pair stood out in terms of winning percentage on the first serve, with 81%, while their opponents managed 69%. Murray and Mattek-Sands won two tiebreaks to secure a 6-7, 6-0, 4-10 victory and advance to the next round.
Famous Brit Andy Murray, 36, lost to Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 4-6 and 1-6. Murray won this tournament in 2012, but the quality of his game has declined since then. In the last six years, this was his 32nd defeat in major tournaments. In that particular match, he made 45 unforced errors. Murray said he will now have to come to terms with his limited ability to advance to the final stages of Grand Slam tournaments.