Ailing Jabeur battles into US Open second round

Ons Jabeur overcame breathing difficulties to secure a gritty 7-5 7-6(4) first round win over Colombia’s Camila Osorio on Tuesday at the US Open where the Tunisian fifth seed is hoping to end a run Grand Slam near misses.
Jabeur, in her first Grand Slam since suffering “the most painful loss” of her career in the Wimbledon final and a day after turning 29, showed a warrior’s mentality in a two-hour battle at Louis Armstrong Stadium played in humid conditions.
“It wasn’t an easy match, she plays unbelievable and I’m not feeling my best today,” Jabeur said in her on-court interview before the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to her. “I know at some point I didn’t have the best attitude on the court but I was trying, you know, to get to play. It’s not easy also playing her. She was trying to make me run even more so that wasn’t helping. But I’m glad that I got the win, especially that I showed myself that I can push and do better on the court.”
Jabeur, who lost the last two Wimbledon finals and suffered the same fate at the 2022 US Open, was in total control early as she went up a double break for a comfortable 4-1 lead before her energy level and serve percentage started to drop. While serving with a 4-3 lead Jabeur told the chair umpire she was having trouble breathing and then went on to lose the game as Osorio broke to get the match back on serve.
When Osorio won a fourth consecutive game for a 5-4 lead Jabeur looked out of sorts while she spent several minutes in her chair as a doctor took her blood pressure and did a general health check before the Tunisian resumed the match. A determined Jabeur dug deep and won three consecutive games to wrap up the opening frame in 59 minutes before leaving the Louis Armstrong Stadium court.
Both players struggled to defend their serve in the second set where Jabeur broke for a 4-3 lead and, with the finish line in sight, turned aside two break points to hold for a 5-3 advantage. But Osorio refused to back down and saved two match points on her next service game and then broke to love to level the set at 5-5 before another exchange of breaks forced a tiebreaker where Jabeur found her way on her third match point when the Colombian sent a forehand into the net. Up next for Jabeur will be unseeded Czech Linda Noskova.
Third seed Jessica Pegula strolled into the second round as she brushed aside Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-2. Montreal champion Pegula, a six-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, takes on Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig or Rebecca Marino of Canada in the next round.
Medvedev on everyone’s radar after first round win
Daniil Medvedev had been the forgotten man coming into the US Open, but the third seeded Russian popped up on everyone’s radar after steamrolling past Attila Balazs 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 and into the second round on Tuesday. With world numbers one and two Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic hogging the spotlight, Medvedev had gone pretty much unnoticed in the run up to the season’s final Grand Slam.
But with his clinical dissection of Balazs, he served notice that he remains a real threat to claim his second U.S. Open title in three years. “I don’t care it is normal Carlos and Novak are the biggest names right now,” said Medvedev when asked if he felt overlooked. “My goal is to play well and get to where they are and try to win that is all I can do.”
Balazs, who retired from competitive tennis in 2014 and began coaching before resuming his career in 2016, had no ideas on how to deal with Medvedev and the former world number one was in total control right from the start, breaking the Hungarian at the first opportunity in all three sets.
Medvedev, who hit 41 winners, seemed to be able to break his opponent at will while Balazs could not create a single break chance in the entire match. The one bright moment for Balazs came with Medvedev up 5-0 in the third set and serving for the match when he chased down a ball and fired a cross-court winner that the Russian applauded, while the crowd roared their approval as the Hungarian broke into a big smile and raised his arms into the air in triumph.
The moment was brief, however, as Medvedev would close out the contest the very next point to move into the next round where he will take on Australian Christopher O’Connell. After losing to eventual champion Alcaraz in the Wimbledon semi-finals, Medvedev has had a quiet US Open buildup, getting to the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open and the round of 16 a week later in Cincinnati. But Medvedev has always produced some of his best work in New York, reaching the final in 2019, semi-finals in 2020 and winning it in 2021.

Djokovic back on top after US Open return
On Monday, Novak Djokovic ensured he will return to the top of tennis’s world rankings with an emphatic first round victory at the US Open. Djokovic, chasing a record-extending 24th Grand Slam singles title in New York, shrugged off a late-night start on the Arthur Ashe Stadium to demolish France’s Alexandre Muller 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 in just 1hr 35min.
The win means Djokovic is guaranteed to replace defending US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz as world number one when the tennis rankings are next updated after the tournament. Djokovic is playing in New York for the first time since suffering an agonising defeat in the 2021 final in New York.
He was barred from entry to the United States in 2022 for his refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19, meaning he was unable to play the US Open. On Monday the 36-year-old played like a man making up for lost time, reeling off 32 winners and breaking Muller eight times in a lopsided encounter that finished at around 12.40am local time.
Djokovic, who will face Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the second round, said he was unfazed by the late start to his game. “I didn’t care if I started after midnight because I was looking forward to this moment for few years, to be out on the biggest stadium in our sport, the loudest stadium in our sport, playing night session,” Djokovic said. “It was a great joy to be stepping out on the court.“