NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Highlights of the first day at the U.S. Open yesterday (times ET; GMT-4). The Grand Slam, the second this year after Wimbledon was cancelled and the French Open was postponed, is being played without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Coco Gauff, 16, was eliminated in the opening round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career as Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova beat her 6-3 5-7 6-4.
Gauff matched the 30-year-old with 27 winners but the American was broken seven times in the contest.
Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, seeded 14th, also advanced in three sets following a 5-7 6-2 6-2 victory over Danielle Rose Collins.
Germany’s fifth seed Alexander Zverev got through a tricky first-round encounter against 2017 finalist Kevin Anderson in four sets, winning 7-6(2) 5-7 6-3 7-5 to move into the second round.
Anderson fired 20 aces to Zverev’s 18 in the battle of the big servers but the South African, who returned to the tour after a series of injuries, was no match for the German’s groundstrokes.
Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas made short work of Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas, winning 6-2 6-1 6-1 to advance.
Meanwhile Canadian 12th seed Denis Shapovalov overcame a brief hiccup in the second set before beating 20-year-old Sebastian Korda 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-2.
Argentine ninth seed Diego Schwartzman was knocked out in the first round by Cameron Norrie despite taking the first two sets, with the Briton winning 3-6 4-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 in a marathon encounter that lasted nearly four hours.
Both players served poorly with more than 50 break points in the match in total but Norrie smashed 39 winners and saved two match points in the deciding set to claim his biggest win at a Grand Slam.
Sixth seed Petra Kvitova dispatched Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3 6-2 with a powerful display to reach the next round.
Serbian Dusan Lajovic, seeded 18th, became the first major casualty of the opening round as he suffered a shock 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-4 defeat by Egor Gerasimov of Belarus.
Top seed Karolina Pliskova beat Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-4 6-0 to move into the second round as the Czech looks to win her first Grand Slam title.
Pliskova fired seven aces and smashed 26 winners, constantly winning points at the net in the first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She will next meet France’s Caroline Garcia.
France’s 30th seed Kristina Mladenovic also advanced in straight sets, overcoming the challenge of American Hailey Baptiste to win 7-5 6-2.
Germany’s 17th seed and 2016 U.S. Open champion Angelique Kerber moved into the second round with a 6-4 6-4 win over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Kerber, who was knocked out in the first round last year, converted all five break points in the match but she was tested in the second set when Tomljanovic saved a match point and came back from 2-5 down before the German served out the match.
The Czech Republic’s 12th seed Marketa Vondrousova became the first player to win a match at the U.S. Open this year after she beat Greet Minnen 6-1 6-4.
Vondrousova, 21, broke her Belgian opponent four times and fired 16 winners to wrap up the match in 63 minutes to advance to the second round.