After seven months without Grand Slam tennis, Day 1 of the US Open was highly anticipated, and swung into action on Monday in New York.
And, despite many players lacking match play, the usual suspects, mostly, advanced during the day session.
Women’s top seed Karolina Pliskova and men's contenders Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas were early winners, while world No.1 Novak Djokovic and former champ Naomi Osaka progressed in the evening session. Coco Gauff made an early exit.
Djokovic, Osaka night winners on Ashe
Djokovic made mostly light work of Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, racing to a 5-0 lead and sealing the opening set in 24 minutes.
Although he faced stiffer resistance in set two – he was forced to save three break points in game six and failed to convert six break points the very next game – he recalibrated in set three to run out a 6-1 6-4 6-1 winner.
The victory, which sets up a second-round meeting with Kyle Edmund, extends Djokovic’s winning streak to 27 matches and his record in 2020 to 24-0.
Osaka followed Djokovic onto Arthur Ashe Stadium, struggling to a 6-2 5-7 6-2 victory over Japanese countrywoman Misaki Doi.
Having pulled out of the Western & Southern Open final 48 hours earlier with a hamstring injury, Osaka looked mostly unimpeded, overcoming an error-strewn second set to book a second-round meeting with big-hitting Italian Camila Giorgi.
Top seed races through
Earlier on Monday, Pliskova made an opening-round statement with a 6-4 6-0 demolition of Anhelina Kalinina in the first match of the day on Ashe.
Fellow Czech Petra Kvitova, seeded sixth, advanced with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Irina-Camelia Begu, while former champion and 17th seed Angelique Kerber came through a tricky opening assignment against Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic, winning 6-4 6-4.
There was disappointment for US teenager Coco Gauff, however, the 16-year-old going down 6-3 5-7 6-4 to Latvian 31st seed Anastasija Sevastova.
Kerber, who had not played a match since the Australian Open and who was a last-minute arrival in New York, could face Pliskova in the fourth round – a rematch of their 2016 US Open final.
Yet Pliskova faces a tough second-round foe in former world No.4 Caroline Garcia.
Zverev wins opening blockbuster
Men’s fourth seed Tsitsipas was dominant in a 6-2 6-1 6-1 win over Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas, striking 38 winners to seven in a 98-minute hit-out at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
It wasn’t so easy for fifth seed Alexander Zverev, who drew a tough first-round opponent in former world No.5 Kevin Anderson and required four tight sets to subdue the 2017 US Open finalist.
Zverev’s 7-6(2) 5-7 6-3 7-5 win keeps him on course for a projected quarterfinal meeting with Tsitsipas.
Also advancing was 12th seed Denis Shapovalov, after the highest of three Canadian seeds beat rising American star Sebastian Korda in four sets.
Upset of the day
No.9 seed Diego Schwartzman was unable to join his high-profile contemporaries in the second round in New York.
The Argentine, twice previously a US Open quarterfinalist, led two sets to love but eventually fell 3-6 4-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 to Brit Cam Norrie, who trailed 5-3 in the fifth set and saved two match points.
World No.76 Norrie, seeking his first appearance in the third round of a major, has a golden opportunity when he next takes on another Argentine in Federico Coria, ranked 103rd.
Stat of the day
Zverev, notable for his serving troubles throughout 2020, was much more reliable with his delivery against Anderson on Monday.
The 23-year-old hit 18 aces while keeping his double fault tally to just six, winning 86 per cent of points behind his first serve.
Tweet of the day
For many reasons, and the best one being that it’s my mum’s birthday today, it feels pretty good to be through to the second round in the bubble ?
— Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) August 31, 2020
Vse nejlepsi, mami ? #USOpen pic.twitter.com/csV5HxlPZG
Quotes of the day
"I thought I started very well, (up) a set and a break, and then things got complicated. In the third obviously stepped it up. Damir is a very good friend, so it was a little bit awkward but at the same time, it's a Grand Slam. I had a terrific week last week, winning the tournament, so obviously feeling confident about myself.”
- Novak Djokovic
"I just have to see what happens tomorrow and how I feel (with my hamstring). I felt like (my serve) could have been better, but also it did what it needed to do on the very important points, so I can't be that mad. I definitely have to practice some.”
- Naomi Osaka
“I was telling (US Open tournament director) Stacey (Allaster) before the tournament: Whatever you do, don't put me on Armstrong. I've had some brutal losses there. Surely enough, first round she puts me there (laughter). But it was actually interesting the match today, because it was probably the first time that I felt like I was the veteran on the tour, and he was a bit of a rookie.”
- Denis Shapovalov
“I guess the tension is always going to be there no matter first, second, third round. Once you win a couple matches, I feel you can feel different, a little bit more calm. But of course you still want to win the next one, so I think the tension never really leaves, at least with me.”
- Karolina Pliskova
“I have sort of like a history with the towel. I used to have a towel when I was three, four years old and I would always carry it around. It was like my toy, basically (smiling). The towel resembles something special in my life. It does provide us some sort of amount of comfort. And also it's not very comfortable playing all sweaty and having sweat drip from your face and get to your eyes.”
- Stefanos Tsitsipas
Day 2: ones to watch
A pair of former champions take on seeded players on Tuesday at Flushing Meadows.
World No.67 Venus Williams, who emerged from the sport’s coronavirus suspension with a re-tooled serve and forehand, opens against No.20 seed Karolina Muchova, a Czech who plays an athletic, imaginative brand of tennis and who has reached the third round the past two years in New York.
Three-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters, an unranked wildcard, will play for the first victory of her latest comeback against 21st seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Andy Murray also begins his US Open 2020 campaign when he takes on Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka in the first match of the day on Ashe.