Sharapova edges past spirited Schnyder at Flushing Meadows
MARIA SHARAPOVA overcame a shaky start and survived a spirited fightback from Patty Schnyder to defeat the Swiss veteran 6-2 7-6(6) in the first round of the US Open on Tuesday.
Five-time grand slam champion Sharapova, who won at Flushing Meadows in 2006, struggled with her serve at times in the opening set but Schnyder failed to take full advantage.
The Swiss retired from tennis after being beaten in the first round of the French Open in 2011, but returned in 2015 and last week became the oldest woman qualifier to reach the main draw of a grand slam at the age of 39 years and eight months.
She was handed an early break by Sharapova after the Russian made three double faults in her opening service game, but double faulted on break point on her own serve to hand the initiative straight back.
With the first four service games all broken, Sharapova held for the first time to take a 3-2 lead and, having got her nose in front, found both her rhythm and serve and began dictating play from the baseline.
The 22nd seed wrapped up the first set in 40 minutes and was leading 5-1 in the second before Schnyder embarked on a remarkable rally.
Schnyder started to take the pace off the ball to gain a greater degree of control and the approach paid dividends as Sharapova’s error count mounted.
The Russian, who hit 22 winners but made 46 unforced errors, needed four match points to end Schnyder’s resistance as the match went to a tiebreak, eventually sealing victory with a powerful forehand winner.
Nick Kyrgios sweated out a 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-2 win over Radu Albot to reach the second round of the US Open on Tuesday then the fiery Australian put the heat on officials to come up with a extreme conditions rule instead of making one up on the fly.
With temperatures soaring above 32 degrees celsius amid crushing humidity, the United States Tennis Association said a 10-minute heat break granted to women players before a third set would be extended to the men.
Despite playing his opener in the evening after the worst of the ferocious heat had subsided, Kyrgios said conditions remained brutal inside the Louis Armstrong Stadium and it was time players raised the issue with officials.
“The heat can become dangerous at times and I don’t think we had a heat rule and we made one up today, right,” the 30th seed told reporters. “That’s just ridiculous. “I think we should have a heat rule, it’s not healthy to be out there getting dizzy and stuff and the poor ball kids out there. There should definitely be a heat rule looked at and put into place.” – Reuters