Shapovalov set to face great No. 8 at U.S. Open
Sharapova defeats second-seeded Halep in her return to the Grand Slam stage
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov cruised into the second round of the U.S. Open with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 win over Russia’s Daniil Medvedev on Monday.
Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., won the match in one hour 36 minutes to continue his impressive summer run, which saw him reach the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
The marquee match of the day featured Maria Sharapova, making an impressive return to Grand Slam tennis, beating No. 2-seeded Simona Halep 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Sharapova received a wild card to play in her first major tournament since returning from a 15-month doping ban. And she made the most of it, ripping 60 winners to Halep’s 15 and wearing down the Romanian with punishing groundstrokes accented by loud grunts. She shrieked with joy when Halep hit a backhand long over the baseline to end the match.
Sharapova, whose five major titles include the 2006 U.S. Open, next faces 59th-ranked Timea Babos of Hungary, who defeated Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 7-5, 5-7, 7-5.
Shapovalov converted his seventh break point to take a 5-2 lead in the third set. Serving for the match, Shapovalov converted on his first match point opportunity by firing his sixth ace of the match past Medvedev.
The 18-year-old left-hander committed just two double-faults to Medvedev’s eight, and won points on 72 per cent of his first serves.
Shapovalov, playing in his first U.S. Open, next faces eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
On Tuesday, Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard will play her first-round match as she faces Evgeniya Rodina of Russia.
Venus Williams stayed in the crowded hunt for the No. 1 ranking — even though she had no idea that she has a shot at that spot. Johanna Konta, a Wimbledon semifinalist just last month, dropped out of that chase with a first-round exit.
The No. 9-seeded Williams overcame a mid-match lapse to pick up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory against Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia, a 19-yearold qualifier who is ranked 135th. It was the first tour-level main-draw match of Kuzmova’s career, and the 967th for Williams, who won the title at Flushing Meadows in 2000 and 2001, in addition to her five Wimbledon championships.
Earlier, Garbine Muguruza opened with an easy win, looking like a favourite whether she believes it or not. The Wimbledon champion, who has never been past the second round at this event, beat Varvara Lepchenko of the U.S. 6-0, 6-3 in just over an hour.
Muguruza is a two-time Grand Slam champion, but had just a 2-4 record in the year’s final major. She acknowledged after her match having a “dark past” at the U.S. Open, but the No. 3 seed is perhaps the hottest player on the women’s tour and is considered one of the favourites even with her poor previous results.
“Oh, I don’t really care, because I don’t feel — I don’t feel I’m a favourite here, because I never really played very good,” Muguruza said. “I did play good, but it just didn’t go my way.”
No. 5 Marin Cilic followed her onto Arthur Ashe Stadium and beat American Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in his first match since the Wimbledon final, hoping he’s healthy enough to make a run through a men’s field that’s been decimated by injuries.
Cilic hadn’t played since losing to Roger Federer in London because of a thigh injury, withdrawing from Montreal and Cincinnati, and is attempting to become the first player in the Open era to win the U.S. Open without playing any matches since Wimbledon.
He’s certainly got a shot, given the absence of top rivals who couldn’t shake off injuries in time for the year’s final Grand Slam. Defending champion Stan Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all pulled out along with Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who Cilic beat in the 2014 final.
On the men’s side, No. 21 David Ferrer of Spain was beaten by qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. No. 32 Robin Haase of the Netherlands was the other seeded player to fall early.
Moving on along with Cilic were Tsonga, No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain and No. 28 Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Women’s winners included fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, No. 13 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, No. 18 Caroline Garcia of France, No. 31 Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia and No. 30 Julia Goerges of Germany.
Women’s seeded losers included No. 24 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and No. 32 Lauren Davis of the U.S.