Tennis star Serena Williams started the US Open, the last tournament of her career, with a quiet victory in the opening round in New York, where the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world number five, was surprisingly eliminated.
After the triumphant debut of the Russian and number one in the world, Daniil Medvedev, in the day session, even before the Portuguese Nuno Borges achieved his first triumph in the main frame of a ‘major’, all attention was focused on the return of the north – American Serena Williams to Flushing Meadows, where she defeated Montenegrin Danka Kovinic in straight sets with a double 6-3.
In what was only her fifth meeting of the season, the former world number one and Grand Slam title holder scored 23 trophies, including six in New York, nine aces and 23 ‘winners’ against 85th in the ‘ranking list’. ‘. ‘WTA ensures continuity in the fourth and final ‘major’ of the season, after one hour and 40 minutes.
In front of a record attendance of 29,402 fans in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Serena Williams, who will be celebrating her 41st birthday in four weeks, earned her 107th win in New York, becoming only the fourth woman in the ‘was Open’ winning dates as a teenager. In her twenties, thirties and forties, she joined Martina Navratilova, sister Venus Williams and Kimiko Date.
Serena Williams wore diamond Nike sneakers and a black dress accented with crystals at the US Open.
After the opening night session with a version of ‘One Moment in Time’, sung by the Ukrainian choir Dumka from New York, and the triumph, the American scored a duel in the second round with Anett Kontaveit (2nd WTA), from Estonia , who defeated Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 6-3, 6-0 on her debut.
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez (14th), a finalist who won a year ago, also confirmed her favoritism against France’s Oceane Dodin, for the 6-3 and 6-4 partitions, while Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, the world’s number five, defeated North American Madison Brengle (61st), 7-5 and 6-2, to secure passage to the next stage of the competition.
In the men’s category, the biggest surprise of the opening day fell on Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, fifth in the ATP hierarchy, knocked out by Colombian qualifier Daniel Galán (94th ATP) in four sets, with the partitions of 6-0, 6-1. 3-6 and 7-5, in two hours and 48 minutes.
Tsitsipas, a recent finalist in the Cincinnati Masters 1,000, netted just 28 ‘winners’ against 57 unforced errors, while his opponent, who had never beaten a player in the ‘top 20’ world, added 41 winning points to 36 non-players. forced fouls to schedule a meeting with Australian Jordan Thompson on matchday two.
Like Tsitsipas, 24, American Taylor Fritz (12th ATP), Indian Wells champion, was surprised by compatriot Bradon Holt (303rd), from the qualifying round, who secured the win 6-7 (3-7), 7- 6 (7 -1), 6-3 and 6-4.
Nick Kyrgios, runner-up at Wimbledon, found it easy to lose his friend and compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis (70th), with whom he won the Australian Open in pairs, and with the partitions guarantee qualification for the next round. from 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6 (7-4).
More difficult was the task of the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, number eight in the world, to beat the Swiss (186th) Alexander Ritschard in four matches, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3, and to dueling Britain’s Jack Draper (53rd) in the second round of the US Open.
Source: DN
