US Open: A review of Day 3's events

Centered Image
Dominic Stricker in action in Round two, Image Credits: US Open

Men's draw:

Novak Djokovic continued his quest for grand slam No. 24 with a comprehensive victory over Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the second round of the US Open. The Serbian faced six break points in the entire match but was never broken as he won 6-4 6-1 6-1. The Spaniard started well as he could get two consecutive break points in the second game of the match but Djokovic held his serve and broke back in the fifth game.

In the second set, Djokovic broke Miralles on three consecutive serves as he sealed the set 6-1. Though Miralles fought early in the third set and produced four break points on Djokovic’s serve, he could neither convert those break points nor hold his own serve as he was broken twice losing the third set 6-1.

The world No. 5 Casper Ruud and the world No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered shock defeats in Round Two against Zhizhen Zhang and Dominic Stricker respectively. It was Zhang’s biggest win of his career as he hit 60 winners against Ruud who was the runner-up in the 2022 edition of the US Open. Zhang took the first set comfortably as he broke Ruud in the third game and could defend his serve well with a 75% first serve percentage winning 15 of those 18 points.

Ruud edged out Zhang in the second set as both the players could defend well on serve until an unforced error from Zhang in the form of a long backhand down the line gave Ruud the set. In the third set, Zhang began with a break in the very first game and broke Ruud again in the seventh game as he sealed the third set 6-2. In complete contrast, Ruud bageled Zhang in the fourth set as he broke the Chinese player thrice. In the fifth set, it was again Zhang who broke twice as he took the set 6-2.

Elsewhere, Tsitsipas and Stricker put on a show for over four hours as both the players held serve comfortably for most of the match. In the first set, Stricker edged out Tsitsipas at 5-5 by breaking the Greek in the eleventh game and then holding his own serve. The second, third, and fourth sets went into the tie-breakers as the players could only break each other once in each of the sets. Tsitsipas took the second and third sets as Stricker could only win two and five points when it mattered the most, while Stricker fought hard and won the fourth set tie-breaker 8-6.

In the fifth set, Stricker broke Tsitsipas in the second game and then comfortably defended his serve facing just one break point to knock the world No. 7 out of the tournament. The Greek has had a slump in form in recent times as he lost in Round 1 at Toronto Masters and in Round 2 at Cincinnati Masters. Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe won their matches in straight sets while the world No. 14 Tommy Paul rallied back from two sets down to win against Roman Safiullin 3-6 2-6 6-2 6-4 6-3.

Dominic Thiem’s comeback in grand slams has been halted as he suffered from gagging after losing a closely fought first set against Ben Shelton. The Austrian retired just one game into the second set. Chris Eubanks lost in four sets to Benzamin Bonzi while Jiri Vesely had to dig deep for over four hours to pull a closely fought victory over the world No. 20 Francisco Cerundolo.

Women's draw:

The defending champion Iga Swiatek moved into the third round of the US Open beating Daria Saville 6-3 6-4. The victory for the world No. 1, however, was not as straightforward as the scoreboard reflects as she had to dig deep. Swiatek was broken twice in the first set but managed to break her opponent thrice in the nick of time. In the second set, she was more comfortable with her serve but was still broken once.

Elena Rybakina advanced to the third round with a walkover as Ajla Tomljanovic withdrew from her second-round match citing an arm injury. Coco Gauff had a comfortable second-round victory in straight sets 6-2 603 against the rising 16-year-old Mirra Andreava. Belinda Bencic and Karolina Muchova won in straight sets too.

Beatriz Haddad Maia had a shock exit from the tournament as she lost to the American Taylor Townsend. It was the second straight American that Haddad Maia was facing as she narrowly managed to win against Sloane Stephens in Round 1. Townsend won the match in straight sets 7-6 [1] and 7-5 as the Brazilian couldn’t keep up in critical junctures of the match.

Caroline Wozniacki’s return to competitive tennis continued well as she beat the world No. 11 Petra Kvitova in straight sets. Wozniacki showed good defense throughout the match while also managing to hit winners when required as she did blasting a winner past Kvitova to take the first set. Victoria Azarenka fell in straight sets against Lin Zhu 3-6 3-6 while Jennifer Brady beat the world No. 24 Magda Linette 6-1 2-6 6-2.

References

  1. Main Image Credits: US open Link: https://www.usopen.org/en_US/photos/index.html
  2. Thumbnail Image Credits: US Open Link: https://www.usopen.org/en_US/photos/index.html