Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff reach US Open second round with easy wins

New York : Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff made a great start to their title defense campaign at the US Open tennis tournament with straight sets wins. Second-seeded Djokovic defeated qualifier Radu Albot of Moldova 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in his first-round match. He equaled Roger Federer’s record by winning his 89th match in the US Open. Djokovic is seeking a record 25th Grand Slam title.

Djokovic will next face his Serbian compatriot Laslo Jare, who won 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-2 over Jan-Lennard Struff. A year ago, Djokovic lost the first two sets to Jarre in the third round of the US Open, but after that he came back and won the match in five sets.

Gauff defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-2, 6-0 in a first-round match here on Monday. Gauff has been struggling with poor form recently but here she dominated from start to finish. He said after the match, ‘The last few weeks were difficult. I was determined to perform well but I don’t have anything to prove to anyone except myself.

Another American player and 13th seed Ben Shelton, who reached the semi-finals last year, defeated 2020 champion Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. This was Thiem’s ​​last match at the US Open as he had already announced that he would retire after this season. In the US Open, 2017 champion Sloane Stephens won the first nine games against Clara Burrell but after that her rhythm got disturbed and she had to face defeat 0-6, 7-5, 7-5.

In the women’s category, other seeded players who made it to the next round include seventh seed Zheng Qianwen, who won gold medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month, Olympic silver medalist here and 24th seed Donna Vekich, 12th seed Daria Kasatkina and 14th seed Madison Keys. Ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari withdrew from the match after a set due to a right shoulder injury.

In the men’s category, the seeded player who faced defeat in the first round was 15th seed Holger Rune, who was defeated by Brandon Nakashima of America 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Players advancing in the men’s category include fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev, eighth-seeded Casper Ruud, ninth-seeded and 2022 runner-up Grigor Dimitrov and 12th-seeded Taylor Fritz.