Djokovic scores time to recover
World number one Novak Djokovic received a free pass into the third round of the US Open when Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic withdrew from their match yesterday due to a left forearm injury.
The walkover provided the top-seeded defending champion with an extended break to improve his niggling left wrist injury before his next match against either Guido Pella of Argentina or Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Djokovic has been dealing with some arm troubles of his own. He said he hurt his left wrist a few days before the start of the Rio Olympics, where he lost in the first round to Juan Martin del Potro. That injury also kept him from playing at Cincinnati.
Then in Monday’s four-set victory over Jerzy Janowicz, Djokovic received treatment on his right arm during the opening set. He repeatedly winced and shook out the arm, his serves far slower than usual.
After dropping a set in his opening match at a major for the first time since 2010, Djokovic didn’t want to talk about what was going on with his arm.
Vesely beat Djokovic 6-4 2-6 6-4 on clay in Monte Carlo in April. At the time, Djokovic hadn’t lost a completed match since November.
The 23-year-old Vesely, ranked 49th, has played Djokovic only once, and is one of two top-100 players with more wins than losses against the Serbian. World No 23 Ivo Karlovic is 2-1 head-to-head against Djokovic.
Early in the third day’s proceedings there were straightsets victories for South Africa’s Kevin Anderson and Johannesburg-born Briton Kyle Edmund.
Big-serving Anderson, seeded 23, downed Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-6(3) 6-4 6-4 to progress to the third round.
Edmund, whose family emigrated to the UK when he was three, got past American Ernesto Escobedo 7-5 6-4 6-4, after having surprisingly eliminated 13th seed Richard Gasquet in three sets in the first round.
In the women’s draw, seventh seed Roberta Vinci will not catch anyone by surprise with a run to the US Open final like she did a year ago but the Italian continued to raise eye- brows with a speedy win over Christina McHale.
Vinci, who was unseeded last year when she lost in the final to compatriot Flavia Pennetta, raced into the third round with a 6-1 6-3 win over American McHale.
The straightforward victory, which Vinci wrapped up in 63 minutes, followed a clinical first round win over Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam that took 68 minutes.
Vinci, 33, will next face either Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva or Germany’s Carina Witthoeft.
Ukrainian 22nd seed Elina Svitolina converted seven out of 11 break points to overcome American Lauren Davis 6-1 4-6 6-3 in the second round.
Two other seeded players,, Swiss Belinda Bencic (24th) brushed aside German Andrea Petkovic 6-3 6-2, while Czech Petra Kvitova (14th seed and a twice former Wimbledon champion) beat Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 7-6(2) 6-3.
In steamy conditions, Kvitova escaped a first-set tiebreak and then broke twice in the second for the victory.
Kvitova, a quarter-finalist at Flushing Meadows last year, has often struggled with the humidity at the year’s last grand slam and admitted it was anyone’s guess how far she could go.
“You never know – I never know,” the 26-year-old said. “I was sick last week but am getting better every day and I feel good on the court and am feeling the ball well.”
World No 66 Buyukakcay, who became the first Turkish woman to win a WTA event in Istanbul earlier this year, achieved another first this week as she became the first woman from her country to appear in the main draw at the US Open.
And the 26-year-old Buyukakcay battled Kvitova all the way, including in the first set when she came back from 5-2 down to force a tiebreak.
“She is a big fighter,” Kvitova said of her opponent. “She’s making history in Turkey and we’re glad tennis is growing everywhere.” – AP and Reuters