Andreescu digs deep for win in Round 2

NEW YORK • Former champion Bianca Andreescu overcame a slow start to deliver a gutsy 6-4, 6-4 win over American Lauren Davis in the second round of the U.S. Open on Thursday.

The sixth seed was down a break four times in the match but never folded, firing 19 winners at Louis Armstrong Stadium as she bids to recapture the magic of her successful 2019 Flushing Meadows campaign.

The 21-year-old Canadian struggled with her first serve at times and committed three double faults in the second set but was able to convert on all three break point opportunities in the set to secure the win.

“This match wasn’t easy at all,” said Andreescu, as her Canadian fans cheered from the stands after match. “It was just a point here and there that really counted.”

Andreescu beat Serena Williams in the 2019 final playing in the main draw for the first time but missed the 2020 season due to injury and the challenges of playing in the COVID-19 pandemic.

She faces lucky loser Greet Minnen of Belgium in the third round.

World No. 1 Ash Barty stormed into the third round of the U.S. Open by taming Danish teenager Clara Tauson 6-1, 7-5 on Thursday, while the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center mopped up after a night of torrential rain and damaging winds.

Barty and Tauson kicked off the action on an Arthur Ashe Stadium court that 12 hours earlier had closed its retractable roof and battened down the hatches as remnants of Hurricane Ida pounded New York, shutting roads and trains in and out of the sprawling facility.

The impact of the storm was still being felt at the U.S. Open on Thursday, with the start of play delayed by an hour as fans trickled back for morning matches, while crews raced to clear flooded roads and trains slowly returned to service.

“It was pretty devastating last night from everything that I heard,” said Barty. “It did wreak some havoc, obviously there was a later start today I think because of obviously the damage to the site.

“It took us a while to get in this morning but we kind of allowed for that time.

“I think we were kind of prepared for it in a way as best we could be, and, yeah, we just kind of got on with it.”

On the men’s side, No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev thrashed Spain’s Albert Ramos-vinolas 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 in a brisk 74 minutes on Thursday, conserving his energy as he rolled through to the third round of the U.S. Open.

Canada’s Vasek Pospisil bowed out in the second round after falling to Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5).