US Open 2015: Day 1 round-up

The first day of play at the 2015 US Open in New York saw largely expected results, but three major upsets surprised players and spectators alike. Among the top players yesterday were World No. 1s Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, who expectedly cruised through their respective matches in straight sets.

A summary of the day’s events:

World No. 1 Serena Williams defeated 25-year-old Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia at the Arthur Ashe court. The American tennis legend did not drop a single game on the way to the second set, and it seemed as though it was no test for her.

6-0 and serving for the second set, Williams took that in clinical fashion as well. Diatchenko, who suffered from a problem with her Achilles tendon earlier this year, appeared to still be struggling and at one point called her coach onto court after losing the first game in the second set as well.

The next game, concluded in under 5 minutes, also went to Williams, and it would be the last of the match. At 6-0, 2-0, Diatchenko retires in visible discomfort, limping off court and out of the tournament.

7-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams beat Monica Puig of Costa Rica. Williams looked to struggle against her 21-year-old Costa Rican opponent Puig, who took the opening game of the match. It would be 20 minutes into the first set when Williams equalised with Puig at 3 games apiece. Coming back strongly after her second service game, Williams took the first set 6-4.

Playing for the second-set tie-break, Williams missed out on four match points, losing the set to Puig 6-7. She came back strong in the final set to win 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 but the victory was not convincing, especially coming from a 2-time US Open winner, and her forehand looked both loose and wide.

Novak Djokovic beat Brazilian Joao Souza in straight sets. The World No. 1 played a completely dominant match, finishing it in a little over an hour as he took victory 6-1, 6-1.

Rafael Nadal beat Borna Coric of Croatia. The Spaniard took the first two sets comfortably, but saw a slump in play in the third set, eventually besting the 18-year-old 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

19th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in straight sets, taking an easy 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 victory.

17th seed Grigor Dimitrov made short work of Matthew Ebden of Australia in straight sets as well, winning 6-4 6-2 6-4.

Upsets

4th seed Kei Nishikori lost to unseeded Benoit Paire. Fresh off a Citi Open title victory, the Japanese player was expected to do well at the tournament but struggled against his French competitor Paire, losing to him 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Last year’s finalist at the Open, Nishikori had then lost to Marin Cilic, who eventually took the title. The match went to five sets as a result of Paire saving two match points in the 4th, and eventually took the victory.

7th seed Ana Ivanovic lost to Dominica Cibulkova. The unseeded Slovakian beat the seeded player 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to progress to the next round of the US Open.

10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro lost to Czech Denisa Allertova. The Spanish player was bested by Allertova 6-1, 7-6.

French player Gael Monfils retired from his first-round match against Ilya Marchenko. Monfils has struggled with back problems all year and fell on his back today, already struggling against his competitor.