Milos Raonic kicks off U.S. Open with straight-sets win
Fellow Canadian Pospisil also advances; Bouchard plays Tuesday
Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic advanced to the second round of the U.S. Open with a straight-sets win over Germany's Dustin Brown on Monday night.
Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., fired 15 aces to Brown's two and totalled 41 winners en route to the 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Raonic ran into some trouble in the first set. Brown broke him in the fifth game, then won his next service game to tie it at 3-3. The two exchanged service points until Raonic broke Brown for the 7-5 win.
Raonic, seeded fifth at the tournament, is having a career year. He played in a Grand Slam final for the first time at Wimbledon, becoming the first Canadian man to reach a singles championship match at a Grand Slam.
Raonic will play American Ryan Harrison in the second round.
Pospisil advances in straight sets
Canada's Vasek Pospisil unleashed 26 winners to defeat Slovakia's Jozef Kovalik in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday. The victory was Pospisil's first main draw win at the U.S. Open since 2011.
Following match point, Pospisil's elation was evident as he pumped his fists in celebration.
"I finally recognized myself on the court," said the 26-year-old from Vernon, B.C., ranked 123rd in the world. "It was a great match for me. I lost [myself] for a while, but I'm back now."
Next up for Pospisil will either be Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka or South Africa's Kevin Anderson.
Montreal's Eugenie Bouchard, ranked 40th in the world, is scheduled to play her first-round match Tuesday against 73-ranked Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Adding intrigue to Bouchard's tournament is the fact she is in the process of suing the U.S. Tennis Association. She launched the suit after slipping and hitting her head in the locker room at last year's event.
Weakened Djokovic gets through
Novak Djokovic double-faulted, then shook his right arm and grimaced.
Seconds later Monday night, a weak serve produced a wince, then was followed by a missed forehand that gave away a set in the defending champion's first-round match at the U.S. Open.
While he managed to emerge with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, there were plenty of signs of trouble, starting with a visit from a trainer who massaged Djokovic's bothersome arm after only five games.
Asked about his health during an on-court interview, Djokovic deflected the question, saying, "I don't think it's necessary to talk about this now. I'm through. I'm taking it day by day."
During the match, Djokovic hit first serves around 100 mph, sometimes slower — 25 mph or so below what's normal for him. He hit second serves in the low 80s mph. He flexed that right arm, the one he has used to wield a racket on the way to 12 Grand Slam titles, and appeared generally unhappy.
In the stands, Djokovic's coach, Boris Becker, gnawed on his fingernails, looking nervous as can be.
This was the No. 1-ranked Djokovic's first match at a major tournament since losing to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon, which ended the Serb's bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam after titles at the Australian Open and French Open.
Heading into the U.S. Open, Djokovic spoke about dealing with a left wrist injury that flared up in the days before the Rio Olympics this month. But that appeared to be just fine against Janowicz, a former top-20 player who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2013 and is now ranked 247th after his own series of injury issues.
Nadal wraps up win, Isner rallies
Earlier in Arthur Ashe Stadium, another two-time U.S. Open champion, Rafael Nadal, stood near the net after winning his first Grand Slam match in three months — 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 against Denis Istomin — and unraveled the thick wrap of white tape protecting his all-important left wrist. He said he's still not back to hitting his forehand the way he does when he's at his best, but there was nothing that seemed to be as debilitating as what Djokovic went through.
All in all, Djokovic's issues figure to loom large as the tournament progresses, and therefore were the most noteworthy development on Day 1 at Flushing Meadows that did include drama elsewhere.
There was 20th-seeded John Isner's comeback from two sets down to edge 18-year-old Frances Tiafoe before a rowdy, standing-room-only crowd at the new Grandstand. And 26th-seeded Jack Sock's five-set victory over 18-year-old Taylor Fritz in another all-American matchup.
More, too: A first-round loss by Rio Olympics gold medalist Monica Puig, and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza's complaints about having trouble breathing after dropping the first set of a match she would go on to win in three.
Like Muguruza's win, Nadal's afternoon match in Ashe was played with the new $150 million US retractable roof open under a blue sky, while offering some extra shade on a day when the temperature reached 90 degrees.
The good news for Nadal, he said afterward, is that the pain is gone from his wrist, which whips those violent, topspin-heavy forehands that are the key to his success — 14 of his 21 winners came off that wing.
Olympic gold medallist Puig upset
Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig has lost in the first round of the U.S. Open.
The 32nd-seeded Puig was upset by 61st-ranked Zheng Saisai 6-4, 6-2 on Monday. Puig had insisted Saturday that she was mentally ready for the year's final major after the whirlwind of the past couple of weeks, when she stunningly beat three Grand Slam champions to become Puerto Rico's first gold medalist and was feted at a parade on the island.
Still, she recognized it was quite possible her U.S. Open trip wouldn't go well, reminding herself that she's just 22 years old. She's now 1-3 at Flushing Meadows.
Zheng, also 22, upset Agnieszka Radwanska at the Olympics. She'll be seeking to make it to the third round at a major for the first time.
Muguruza has trouble, Kerber breezes
French Open champ Garbine Muguruza says she thinks the heat caused her to have trouble breathing early in her U.S Open first-round match.
The third-seeded Spaniard had to call for the trainer after dropping the first set to Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens with temperatures in the low 90s. Muguruza said after Monday's three-set victory that she had forgotten there were towels with ice available to cool off during changeovers. She also was able to relax more, which helped.
Muguruza says she had some trouble breathing in practice a couple of days earlier as well, but she felt fine during her warmup Monday. The conditions reminded her of the Australian Open, though she never remembered it being this uncomfortable in New York.
Then again, the 22-year-old has never stuck around past the second round in singles at the U.S. Open.
Polona Hercog says she had been sick for several days before her first-round U.S. Open match, in which she retired after suffering from dizziness and cramping.
The 120th-ranked Slovenian was trailing 6-0, 1-0 to second-seeded Angelique Kerber on Monday. Hercog says she felt dizzy after long rallies, and her legs started cramping in the fourth or fifth game. The 90-degree heat didn't help.
Had Hercog withdrawn before the match, a "lucky loser" who fell in qualifying could have replaced her. Told that Croatian player Donna Vekic had sarcastically tweeted "classy" about the match, Hercog said: "It's not my fault she lost in the last round of qualies."
Hercog says she felt OK during warmups and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to face the Australian Open champ on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
With files from CBC Sports