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NEW YORK: Two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka managed to overcome her own uneven play to clinch a three-set victory over Misaki Doi in an all-Japanese showdown in the first round of the US Open.
Osaka’s move, seeded No. 4, was a problem at times, but he managed to win 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 against Doi, No. 81 in the ranking, in an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium as midnight approached. Monday (Tuesday in Manila). Osaka made 38 unforced errors, 13 more than his total winners.
Top seeds, including Novak Djokovic, made their way past the eerily quiet stands as a “strange” and spectatorless US Open kicked off Monday with reinforced security protocols for some players following a positive Covid-19 test.
Djokovic and female seed Karolina Pliskova were among the big names who ignored the deadly silence at Flushing Meadows and advanced to the second round of the first Grand Slam of the Covid-19 era.
Djokovic defeated the unknown Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 when he launched his bid for an 18th Grand Slam with a victory at an Arthur Ashe Stadium with no 23,000 screaming fans.
Pliskova did a light job on Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina, ranked 145th, 6-4, 6-0 in one of the first matches.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the 2016 US Open champion, also advanced to the second round, thanks to a close 6-4, 6-4 victory against Australia’s Ajila Tomljanovic.
Several competitors were placed in what one of them described as a “bubble within a bubble” after Frenchman Benoit Paire was pulled from the men’s draw on Sunday for testing positive for coronavirus.
“It became clear that the infected player was not complying with the health protocols that have been approved by the state of New York,” a spokesman for the United States Tennis Association told Agence France-Presse.
Match-winning points were not encouraged, ball players wore masks and players had to reach for their own towels in a strictly controlled environment that made Slam Opening Day like no other.
“The conditions are strange, we miss the fans,” said France’s Kristina Mladenovic after a 7-5, 6-2 win over American Hailey Baptiste.
But there was disappointment for American star Coco Gauff, the 16-year-old who lit up Wimbledon last year with a run to the fourth round. Gauff fell at the first hurdle, losing to Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
