US Open 2013 Day 1 Wrap: Venus Williams, Dan Evans and Alisa Kleybanova steal the headlines

Daniel Evans celebrates match point against Kei Nishikori during their first round match on Day One of the 2013 US Open. (Getty Images)

Among the other seeds in action, there were wins for (3) Agnieszka Radwanska, (5) Li Na, (8) Angelique Kerber, (9) Jelena Jankovic, (15) Sloane Stephens, (16) Sabine Lisicki, (19) Sorana Cirstea (no. 19), (23) Jamie Hampton (no. 23), (24) Ekaterina Makarova (no. 24), (25) Kaia Kanepi (no. 25), (30) Laura Rosbon and (32) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova among the women.

Among the men, there were wins for (4) David Ferrer, (8) Richard Gasquet, (18) Janko Tipasarevic, (19) Tommy Robredo, (23) Feliciano Lopez and (32) Dmitry Tursunov.

Besides Nishikori, three other seeds also fell on Monday. 29^th seed Magdalena Rybarikova, champion in Washington, lost to Austrian Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in straight sets in the women’s draw (the Slovak is now 3-16 in Grand Slams since 2010).

In the men’s 27^th seed Fernando Verdasco lost to Ivan Dodig in five sets while 30^th seed Ernests Gulbis, who admitted he was nervous because he knew this was a good draw for him, lost to Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer in five sets too.

But the most inspiring performance of the day came from Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova. The former world number 20 was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma – a type of cancer – in 2011. And having fought her way back the illness, she scored her first Grand Slam win, a two-and-a-half hour 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 marathon win over 19-year-old Monica Puig, since that diagnosis to earn a second round showdown with former finalist Jelena Jankovic.

Kleybanova’s story continues to inspire people but she wants the focus to return to her game, “Right now I’m back on court, and all my focus is on the matches. You know, I try to do my best. I want to win. I want to come back so much. It’s just all my mind is in tennis right now. But, you know, I hear a lot from people that I’m a big inspiration for them.

“A lot of people now look up to me. I mean, I think it’s great. I don’t want to be like an example, but if I am, I think it’s very nice. I’m not trying to, you know, show anything or whatever. I do it for myself. I want to play tennis. I want to be here as a tennis player because I have skills that I can do that, not being here as someone who overcame and because of that people knows me.

“I’m not trying to pretend anything. I just want to be a tennis player right now. But if my story inspires people and, you know, it gives them more belief on things, it makes them feel stronger at some point, I mean, that’s great. I think, you know, people always need someone to look up to, as I when I was young. I was looking up to certain people in my life, setting up certain goals. I think it’s great. If I can do something, I’m always happy to do that.”

Score of the day – 18^th seed Carla Suarez Navarro beat American Lauren Davis 6-0, 6-0 in 57 minutes.

Quotes of the day:What was your first thought when you saw the draw?Francesca Schiavone: Oh, S***!!

When Ernests Gulbis was asked if he should see a psychologist after getting nervous during his match, he responded: “Psychologist? No. You can go to a psychologist. I don’t need a psychologist.”

Matches to look forward to on Day 2: (1) Novak Djokovic vs. Ricardis Berankis; (12) Tommy Haas vs. Paul Henri-Mathieu; Denis Kudla vs. Jiri Veseley; (14) Maria Kirilenko vs. Yanina Wickmayer; (17) Dominika Cibulkova vs. Elina Svitolina; (21) Simona Halep vs. Heather Watson