Kerber cruises into 2nd round
New York, Aug. 31: Former champion Angelique Kerber returned to action for the first time in seven months and beat Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6- 4, 6- 4 on Monday to reach the second round of the U. S. Open.
The 17th- seeded German, who entered the match having not competed since the fourth round of the Australian Open, overcame a shaky start on serve and got better as the 88- minute match at Louis Armstrong Stadium wore on.
Kerber, a three- times Grand Slam champion who triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2016, traded breaks with Tomljanovic through the first four games of the match and then found her footing to take over the match.
The German southpaw converted all three break point chances to pull ahead 5- 4 and then went on to serve out at love to grab the first set.
In the second, Kerber settled into a groove and broke her opponent twice before sealing the win on her third match point when a Tomljanovic forehand sailed long.
The US Open is the first Grand Slam to be contested since the Covid- 19 pandemic shutdown global tennis in March.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic sets out on his quest for an 18th Grand
Slam title at the US Open with his world number one standing enhanced in the latest ATP rankings released on Monday.
Fresh from his success in the ATP Western & Southern Open final against Milos Raonic, the Serb headlines the opening day at Flushing Meadows where he faces Damir Dzumhur of BosniaHerzegovina.
He leads the ATP chart on 10860 points from Rafael Nadal who like fourthranked Roger Federer is skipping the rescheduled US Open being held under tight Covid- 19 health restrictions.
While Djokovic heads an unchanged top 10, Raonic jumps 12 places to 18th on the back of his run to Saturday’s decider in the US Open tune- up.
OSAKA CLIMBS TO NINTH IN RANKINGS
Naomi Osaka climbed one place to number nine in the new WTA rankings, which were released on Monday.
Osaka, who is scheduled to meet fellow Japanese Misaki Doi in the first round at Flushing Meadows, pulled out of Saturday’s final because of a left hamstring injury.
Australian Ashleigh Barty retains the top spot although neither she nor world number two Simona Halep are taking part in the US Open.