Murray, Serena break little sweat
EASY OUTINGS Rio gold medallist Scot breezes past Rosol; coming back from injury, women’s world No 1 enters second round
Wimbledon champions Andy Murray and Serena Williams powered into the second round of the US Open as the stars came out on Arthur Ashe Stadium court on Tuesday night.
Williams, launching her latest bid to rewrite the record books, started strong and didn’t let up in 6-3, 6-3 victory over 29th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova.
The US world No 1 appeared untroubled by the balky right shoulder that has hindered her in recent weeks, delivering a dozen aces and 27 winners overall in the 63-minute contest. Williams said she wouldn’t know until she’d slept on it how her shoulder might respond to the effort. “Every day, I’ll just see how it goes,” said Williams, who is chasing a record seventh title on the hardcourts of Flushing Meadows where she first triumphed in 1999. A victory would see her break the Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles she now shares with German Steffi Graf and close in on Margaret Court’s all-time mark of 24 major titles. SUCCESSFUL START While Williams has struggled since Wimbledon, Murray went from claiming a second title at the All England club to a successful defence of his Olympic gold in Rio.
Vying to become the fourth man in the Open Era to reach all four major finals in a calendar year, Murray, too, produced a dominant service performance in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Czech Lukas Rosol. “I don’t think I had any break points against me, which is very good,” the Scot said.
Before the floodlights came up, Serena’s elder sister Venus claimed a Grand Slam record of her own as her 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova marked her 72nd appearance in the main draw of a major.
The 36-year-old Venus, enjoying a resurgence in a 2016 season that includes a WTA title in Taiwan, survived 63 unforced errors against the rising 22-year-old, although she was pleased that her aggressive approach also yielded 46 winners.
Men’s third seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, a two-time semifinalist, reached the second round with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-4 win over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.
Kei Nishikori, who became Asia’s first men’s Grand Slam finalist in New York in 2014, when he fell to Marin Cilic in the final, also advanced, downing German Benjamin Becker 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. LAWSUIT Eugenie Bouchard slumped to a first-round 3-6 6-3 2-6 defeat to Czech Katerina Siniakova but the Canadian might yet leave a big winner with her lawsuit against the Grand Slam and USTAstill to hit the courts. Last year Bouchard exited when she slipped on a wet locker room floor after a mixed doubles match, sustaining a concussion that forced her to withdraw from her fourth-round singles contest.