In-form Cilic eases into second round

THE player who stunned Serena Williams at last year’s US Open en route to the final, Roberta Vinci of Italy, won the first match in the tournament’s refurbished Arthur Ashe Stadium on the first day of the year’s final grand slam in New York yesterday.

Vinci, who is seeded No 7, overcame some second-set jitters to beat 46th-ranked Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 6-2 6-4.

In the 2015 semi-finals at Flushing Meadows, Vinci – unseeded and ranked 43rd at the time – upset Williams, ending the American’s bid for tennis’ first calendar-year Grand Slam in 27 years. That put Vinci into her first major final, where she lost to another Italian, childhood friend Flavia Pennetta.

The year’s final grand slam began with an upset as 13th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet was upended 6-2 6-2 6-3 by Britain’s world number 84 Kyle Edmund at the US Open yesterday.

Gasquet, who has reached the last 16 at Flushing Meadows four times in his career, was outplayed throughout and his US Open experience lasted just one hour, 41 minutes.

The 21-year-old Edmund, who helped Britain win the Davis Cup last year, crunched 10 aces and 40 winners in all en route to the biggest victory of his career.

Former champion Marin Cilic, a popular pick to make a deep run in the year’s final grand slam, opened his US Open campaign with a solid 6-4 7-5 6-1 victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil.

The Croatian seventh seed, fresh off a win over world number two Andy Murray in the Cincinnati final, came from a break down in the first set and was pushed in the second before easing past the world number 108.

“It’s my second home, I feel great here,” said Cilic, who won the only grand slam title of his career here two years ago.

Cilic, who banged down 12 aces, now plays either Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine or Gastao Elias of Portugal in round two. – Reuters