Day 1 at the US Open did not disappoint. What a day of tennis it was!! The 9th seeded Muguruza and the 12th seed, Halep, both had tough 1st round matches. Muguruza was up against 57 in the world Donna Vekic. Both ladies put on a show with both sets needing a tiebreak to separate them. Muguruza will be very pleased to get through in straight sets. With not many matches under her belt this year, Simona Halep would’ve wanted an easier first round match. She was up against Giorgi who is 36th in the world and in very good form. Halep managed to get the all important break in the first set to take the set 6-4. The second set was more of the same from Halep who once again broke first and served for the match at 5-4. Giorgi wasn’t done yet though as she broke back to make it 5-5. Sadly for Giorgi she was once again broken and Halep had a second chance to serve out the match. Halep had 2 match points in that game but somehow Giorgi managed to save them and we were heading to a tiebreak. Thankfully for Halep she managed to win the tiebreak 7-3 and book her spot in the second round. Kanepi managed to to come back from a set and a break down to defeat 31st seed Putinseva in three sets. The first match on Arthur Ashe for this years US Open was a repeat of the 2017 US Open final between Stephens and Keys. Stephens managed to beat her friend, Keys, in that final and she started off in the same fashion this time round as she took the opening set 6-3. Keys though played a near flawless second set as she took it 6-1. There was nothing to split the two and we headed to a third set tiebreak. Keys managed to save a match point but it wasn’t enough as Stephens took the tiebreak 9-7. 16th seed, Kerber, played a 2h and 25 minute match against Ukrainian, Dayana Yastremska. Kerber coming through in a third set tiebreak. South African, Kevin Anderson, managed to scrape a win over Vesely in 4h and 22 minutes. He goes on to face 11th seed, Diego Schwartzman, in the 2nd round. 12th seed Auger Aliassime also had a tough opening round against Russian, Donskoy. He managed to prevail 7-6;3-6; 7-6; 7-6. Wildcard, Nakashima, managed to defeat 19th seed and fellow American, John Isner, in straight sets. One of the big upsets of the day. The big men’s match of the day on paper did not disappoint in reality. Andy Murray was up against the 3rd seed Tsitsipas. Murray played lights out tennis in the first set and took the set 6-2. The 2nd set needed a tiebreak. Murray did have set points but Tsitsipas played some clutch tennis and took the 2nd set. Murray once again, just like the first set, got the early break and that was enough as he took the third set 6-3. Tsitsipas had a medical timeout during the 4th set but that didn’t stop him as he took the 4th and then the final set and booked his spot in the 2nd round.

Onto the fantasy league… Day 1 saw 12 picks go out in the first round. The 7 male picks that lost were: Cilic, Davidovich Fokina, Humbert, Kyrgios, Krajinovic, Norrie, Paire. The 5 ladies picks were: Keys, Giorgi, Peterson, Li and Linette.

Well done to ‘Hotshot 2’ as they lead after Day 1 with 32 points. ‘Wine Snob 2’ is close behind in 2nd with 30 points and ‘Team Kickbutt’ is in third with 28 points. With only half of round 1 completed, lots of points are still on offer. Good luck for Day 2!

Results on Day 1:

• Anderson beat Vesely – 7-6(1); 4-6; 3-6; 7-6(5); 7-6(4)
• Gojowczyk beat Humbert(23) – 1-6; 6-1; 6-2; 5-7; 6-4
• Auger-Alliassime(12) beat Donskoy – 7-6(0); 3-6; 7-6(1); 7-6(8)
• Kohlschreiber beat Cilic(30) – 6-7(4); 6-7(3); 6-2; 6-1; 2-0 ret
• Nakashima beat Isner(19) – 7-6(7); 7-6(6); 6-3
• Mannarino beat Herbert – 3-6; 4-6; 6-4; 6-3; 6-3
• Tsitsipas(3) beat Murray – 2-6; 7-6(7); 3-6; 6-3; 6-4
• Trungelliti beat Davidovich Fokina(29) – 5-7; 6-3; 7-5; 6-7(3); 6-4
• Pella beat Krajinovic(32) – 6-7(2); 6-3; 6-2; 6-2
• Alcaraz beat Norrie(26) – 6-4; 6-4; 6-3
• Bautista-Agut(18) beat Kyrgios – 6-3; 6-4; 6-0
• Kanepi beat Putintseva(31) – 2-6; 7-6(4); 6-2
• Stephens beat Keys – 6-3; 1-6; 7-6(7)
• Kerber(16) beat Yastremska – 3-6; 6-4; 7-6(3)
• Gauff(21) beat Linette – 5-7; 6-3; 6-4
• Mertens(15) beat Peterson – 3-6; 7-6(5); 7-6(5)
• Masarova beat Bogdan – 6-7(9); 7-6(2); 7-6(9)
• Sabalenka(2) beat Stojanovic – 6-4; 6-7(4); 6-0

Matches to watch on Day 2:

• Kostyuk vs Sakkari(17) (17:00)
• Barty(1) vs Zvonareva (20:00)
• Cirstea vs Kudermetova(29) (21:00)
• Potapova vs Pegula(23) (23:00)
• Riske vs Pavlyuchenkova(14) (01:00)
• Golubic vs Andreescu(6) (03:00)
• Kwon vs Opelka(22) (17:00)
• Khachanov(25) vs Harris (17:00)
• McDonald vs Goffin(27) (17:00)
• Zverev(4) vs Querrey (18:00)
• Hurkacz(10) vs Gerasimov (18:15)
• Chardy vs Berrettini (19:00)
• Korda vs Basilashvilli (20:15)
• Nishioka vs Sock (20:15)
• Fognini(28) vs Pospisil (21:30)
• Fritz vs De Minaur(14) (02:15)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a tennis fantasy league organiser.http://Eishonline.co.za/jftl