Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen overcame early serving woes to move into the second round of the US Open with a hard-fought 4-6 6-4 6-2 victory over American wild card Amanda Anisimova on Monday.
Seventh seed Zheng, a quarter-finalist in New York last year, won 73 per cent of her first-serve points and converted six of her 11 breakpoint chances during a two hour 20-minute match at Louis Armstrong Stadium where she was broken four times.
Up next for Zheng, who arrived in New York having played just two hard court matches since winning the Olympic singles gold medal on the Parisian clay at Roland Garros, will be a clash with Russia’s Erika Andreeva.
At Arthur Ashe Stadium, defending champ Coco Gauff was up against Varvara Gracheva, taking a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 win.
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Speaking after her opening victory, which made her the youngest player to register eight consecutive wins at the US Open since Maria Sharapova who won nine between 2006 and 2007, Gauff said: “It was a lot of pressure this tournament. I am enjoying it. Last year was incredible and I am just trying to bring those vibes back.”
“If I played this last week it would have been really difficult. My perspective has changed a lot in seven days. Obviously it was a straightforward match at points but I am just happy to be back. The last few weeks have been tough but today I played my best tennis in a while.”
Elsewhere, in the men’s singles former champion Dominic Thiem’s final appearance at the tournament ended tamely after he was beaten 6-4 6-2 6-2 in the first round by American Ben Shelton.
The Austrian has struggled to reproduce the form that carried him to the 2020 Flushing Meadows title and announced he would retire from the sport this season after being troubled by a wrist injury in recent years.
Shelton leant on his powerful forehand and sent over eight aces to open the action on Arthur Ashe Stadium, as the 21-year-old hopes to recapture the magic of his charmed run to the semi-finals 12 months ago.
Despite struggling with his serve, Thiem showed he had some fight left in him as he fended off two break points in the 10th game but a relentless Shelton forced him into an error to break him on the third attempt to take the opening set.
The American extinguished Thiem’s lone break point opportunity in the opening game of the second set and the Austrian handed Shelton a break in the second game with a double fault and an unforced error.
Shelton showed he could be a threat over the next two weeks as he broke Thiem again to close out the second set. He ran away with the match in the third set, pummelling 34 winners in a confident performance. – Reuters
