RAONIC, SHAPOVALOV, POSPISIL INTO ROUND 2 AT U.S. OPEN.
Auger-Aliassime retires from match in U.S. Open debut
NEW YORK • Canada’s Milos Raonic advanced to the second round of the U.S. Open with a 7-6 (4), 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Argentine qualifier Carlos Berlocq on Monday.
The hard-serving star from Thornhill, Ont., fired 26 aces past Berlocq and won 91 per cent of his first-service points.
It wasn’t a clean win for Raonic, who committed 45 unforced errors compared to Berlocq’s 11.
Raonic, the 25th seed in New York, will next face France’s Gilles Simon. Raonic owns a 4-1 advantage in the head-to-head series with Simon, including both meetings on hard courts.
Raonic was originally scheduled to face Jared Donaldson in the first round before the American withdrew due to a knee injury.
In later matches Monday, Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime met in a clash of promising Canadian teenagers with the 28th-ranked Shapovalov emerging the winner when Auger-Aliassime retired due to heatrelated issues while trailing 4-1 in the third set. Shapovalov won the first set 7-5, but lost the second 5-7.
Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil was also a winner on Day 1, sweeping Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Simona Halep became the first No. 1-seeded woman to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open in the professional era. Halep was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by 44th-ranked Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in a match that was stunningly lopsided and lasted all of 76 minutes.
Halep won the French Open in June for her first Grand Slam title. But this was the second year in a row she exited the U.S. Open in the first round.
Venus Williams moved to the second round by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in a matchup of past U.S. Open champions.
Williams, the No. 16 seed and a semifinalist last year at Flushing Meadows, could play younger sister Serena in the third round. That would be their earliest Grand Slam matchup in 20 years.
Serena Williams won her firstround match 6-4, 6-0 over Magna Linette of Poland.
Defending champion Sloane Stephens, the No. 3 seed, defeated Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 6-1, 7-5.
On the men’s side, Andy Murray was a winner in his return to Grand Slam tennis, beating James Duckworth 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.
“I would have been able to train and practice a lot more than what I have done. I would have played more matches in the buildup to the tournament. I mean, there’s many, many things that I would have wanted to change to be considered a contender,” Murray said.
“I don’t think anything changes after today. I think I’m still just taking it one match at a time. Yeah, I mean, this is the first time I have played four sets in 14 months, so, you know, I just have to wait and see how I pull up tomorrow.”
The 2012 U.S. Open champion from Britain has sat out much of the last year because of hip surgery. He hadn’t appeared in a major since Wimbledon in 2017.
No. 8 Gregor Dimitrov was the highest-seeded man to lose, falling to Stan Wawrinka. Wawrinka also ousted the Bulgarian in the first round at Wimbledon.
Also bounced from the event were seeded men Kyle Edmund and Roberto Bautista Agut.
Edmund was the No. 16 seed, while Bautista Agut checked in at No. 19.