Sport
Swiatek off the mark as 4th seed Rune crashes out
2020 champ Thiem ends a miserable sequence of six consecutive first round exits at Grand Slams
August 28, 2023 | 11:56 PM
Iga Swiatek launched the defence of her US Open crown with an emphatic opening victory on Monday as Novak Djokovic eyed a return to the top of the men’s world rankings on his long-awaited return to the tournament.Swiatek, bidding to become the first woman to successfully defend the US Open title since Serena Williams won a hat-trick of titles from 2012-2014, needed less than an hour to defeat Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-0, 6-1. The 22-year-old world number one from Poland overwhelmed her opponent with five breaks of serve and 20 winners to complete victory in just 58 minutes on the Arthur Ashe Stadium."I wanted to start the tournament with everything I was focusing on. I was happy to play a great game, with all the pressure and expectations I was happy on the court,” said Swiatek after her win. Swiatek, targeting her fifth Grand Slam title, will face Daria Saville of Australia in round two.While Swiatek advanced safely, there was no such luck for Greece’s eighth seed Maria Sakkari, who became the highest ranked casualty of early round action, beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Spain’s Rebeka Masarova, ranked 71st in the world.Masarova converted all three break point opportunities she had during the 87-minute encounter to secure her first career win over a top-10 player. Sakkari had control as she consolidated an early break for a 4-1 lead but Masarova stormed back and won the next five games to wrap up the opening set.In the second set, Masarova again consolidated a break for a 5-3 cushion and then, after Sakkari held serve to stay alive, closed out the encounter on her second match point with a backhand winner that dropped just inside the corner.With the loss, Sakkari became the first seeded casualty of the US Open. For Sakkari, the defeat marked the final blow in a disappointing Grand Slam year for her as she followed a third-round appearance at the Australian Open with first-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon and now the US Open.Eighteenth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus was among the first women to book their place in the second round, swatting aside French wild card entrant Fiona Ferro 6-1, 6-2 in early play on Monday.Tenth seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic also made it safely through, blowing away Australia’s Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-0 in 1hr 5mins.In early action in the men’s draw on Monday, 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem ended a miserable sequence of six consecutive first round exits at Grand Slam tournaments by defeating 25th seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in straight sets. Thiem, whose career has been blown off course by wrist and knee injuries since his lone Grand Slam win three years ago, won 6-3, 6-2, 6-4."It took time to get my confidence back in my wrist, now I am back on track,” a delighted Thiem said in an on-court interview. "I feel the game is back in place and a straight set victory today I couldn’t be happier.”Danish fourth seed Holger Rune crashed out, losing in four sets to Spanish journeyman Roberto Carballes Baena. Rune, beaten in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon by Carlos Alcaraz, succumbed 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2hr 42min. Carballes Baena, a clay-court specialist ranked 63rd in the world who has never been further than the third round at a Grand Slam tournament, will face either Russia’s Aslan Karatsev or the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka in the second round.The defeat was the latest in a series of disappointing early exits for Rune, the 20-year-old regarded as one of the brightest young talents in men’s tennis. Since his quarter-final loss to Alcaraz at Wimbledon, Rune has suffered first round losses at the Canadian Open, the Cincinnati Open and now the US Open.The young Dane, who reached the third round of the US Open last year, had lashed out at organisers, complaining about the decision to place his opening game on Court No 5 of the USTA’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Against Carballes Baena , Rune was always struggling to find his rhythm, racking up 43 unforced errors and seeing his serve broken seven times by the 30-year-old Spaniard.In other men’s matches, American 10th seed Frances Tiafoe and ninth seed Taylor Fritz open their campaign dreaming of ending the host nation’s two-decade long wait for a Grand Slam title. No American man has won a Grand Slam singles crown since Andy Roddick lifted the 2003 US Open. Tiafoe takes on compatriot Learner Tien, while Fritz faces Steve Johnson in another all-American match-up.
August 28, 2023 | 11:56 PM