New York (AFP) – Top-seeded Alexander Zverev survived a scare, overcoming Lorenzo Sonego in a wild five-setter at the US Open on Tuesday as Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff advanced with ease. Zverev fought off a determined challenge from Italy’s lowly ranked Sonego, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7/9), 7-5, 6-4. He battled Sonego in a tense all-court match spiced with unlikely retrievals, impossibly angled winners, and some inexplicable errors, wrapping up the contest on Arthur Ashe Stadium after four hours and 53 minutes at 1:55 in the morning.
“I’m just happy I won, that’s it. Incredible battle,” said Zverev, who was two points from defeat when trailing 5-4 in the fourth set. The German held serve and broke Sonego in the next game, then secured the only break of the fifth set to complete the win. Zverev, who followed his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros with a Wimbledon final appearance, notched his seventh win in as many matches against Sonego, who is ranked 89th in the world. “Credit to him, he played an incredible match,” Zverev commented, adding it was just the kind of battle he needed after lackluster performances in two hard court tournaments leading up to the Open.
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There was no such drama for world number two Rybakina and former champion Gauff. Rybakina, eyeing a third Grand Slam title and the number one ranking, beat US teen Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-2. Gauff showcased her immensely improved serve in a confident 6-3, 6-4 victory over 53rd-ranked Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey. Gauff breezed through the opening set before Sonmez raised her game, recovering an early break in the second and briefly taking the lead before Gauff regrouped.
“I think I was just trying not to panic,” Gauff said. “She started coming to the net and playing great tennis. That 3-all game was really important,” she added, noting she saved three break points in the sixth game and broke in the next for a lead she wouldn’t relinquish. Kazakhstan’s Rybakina showed little sign of the left heel injury that had forced her out of her quarter-final in Cincinnati this month. She saved both break points she faced in a polished performance against the big-hitting but erratic American, who was playing her first Grand Slam main draw match on a wild card. “I’m happy with the match. Especially when you don’t know your opponent, it can always be dangerous, but overall I’m happy with the first match and how it went,” she expressed.
Women’s French Open champion Mirra Andreeva also advanced easily, cruising past Indonesia’s 36th-ranked Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-2. Andreeva, seeded fifth, has had a lackluster run on North American hard courts since her scintillating journey to her first Grand Slam title in Paris. However, she was focused as she secured her second win over Tien in less than two weeks. After a tough win against the Indonesian in Cincinnati, Andreeva said, “I was just trying to be very aggressive.”
Fifth-seeded Flavio Cobolli, runner-up to Zverev at Roland Garros, rallied from two sets down for the first time in his career to defeat Argentina’s Francisco Comesana 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The Italian shook off an erratic start, dropping to his knees and raising his arms in celebration after closing out the four-hour, 13-minute marathon. “In a Grand Slam, it’s never done,” Cobolli remarked. “You have to fight to the last point.”
While Cobolli and Comesana battled on the Louis Armstrong Stadium, Americans Madison Keys and Taylor Fritz both scored victories on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Keys, a former Australian Open winner who lost in the first round at Flushing Meadows last year, overcame her first-match jitters to defeat 19-year-old Russian Alina Korneeva 7-5, 6-4. Nerves didn’t seem to be a problem for ninth-seeded Fritz, who sailed past fellow American Darwin Blanch 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Although play progressed as scheduled in the covered Ashe and Armstrong stadiums, those on outside courts—including Rybakina—had to wait through lengthy rain delays. This included a nearly four-hour delay to the start of play and additional pauses in the evening. Five late matches were postponed altogether, and several others were suspended to resume on Wednesday.
© 2024 AFP
