ATP
Zverev closes out Open first round in a sprint
Alexander Zverev closed out first-round play at the US Open in a sprint finish, taking barely two hours to defeat Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to reach the second round for the ninth time in 10 starts here.
The German third seed who played the New York final five years ago, turned in a workmanlike performance
“It wasn’t great at times to be very honest, but you know, I’m through, I won in straight sets, that’s the most important thing. There’s a lot to build still, there’s a lot to improve.”
The night-time wrapup buried memories of a first-round Wimbledon loss last month for Zverev, who suffered with heat exhaustion in his last event at Cincinnati, where he still managed to reach the final four while also complaining of mental stress.
He will bid for the third round against Brit Jacob Fearnley, a winner over Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Zverev, who flirted with the title here five years ago but fell short by two points against Dominic Thiem, also played Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros last season and the Australian Open in January.
“It’s about winning the last point in those [finals] for me. I’m very hopeful I can do that this year,” the 28-year-old said.
American 14th seed Tommy Paul showed no signs of recent foot injury problems in a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 sweep of Dane Elmer Moller
“I was just happy to be feeling good out there,’’ Paul said. “I’m feeling great. “I have some things to clean up with my game, but I’m very, very excited.”
Gael Monfils, on the cusp of turning 39, lost in an opening match here for the first time since 2015, with No. 94 Roman Safiullin profitting in a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 marathon.
French showman Monfils had been hoping to become the men’s singles match winner here Jimmy Connors won in 1992 aged 40.
Monfils, who reached the New York final four in 2016, was playing the event for a 17th time, second only to the 19 appearances of Novak Djokovic.
Despite heavy crowd support for Monfils, outsider Safiullin eventually prevailed after two and three-quarter hours with 33 winners to 37 unforced errors and now plays Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-4 winner over British lucky loser Billy Harris.
In the women’s draw, Coco Gauff got away to a winning start, as the 2023 tournament champion needed almost three hours to beat Ajla Tomljanovic, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5.
The American who has been having serious problems with her serve and brought in a specialist coach to try and cure the problem, still double-faulted 10 times in victory.
“It was a tough match, I had chances for straight sets, but Ajla was tough,” Gauff said.
“She was getting so many balls back and I was trying to push her back; it wasn’t the best, but I’m happy to get through to the next round.”
Tomljanovic ended with a massive 56 unforced errors to a mere 12 winners; Gauff was only slightly better with 29 winners and 59 errors in the night session.
Gauff said trying to fix here serve with a major fast approaching was the definition of stress.
“Honestly, mentally exhausting, but I’m trying. It wasn’t the best today, but at 30-all [in the final game], it came in when it mattered. It’s improved from last week in Cincy, and I’m just trying to improve with each match.”
Gauff now owns 36 match wins this season against a dozen defeats; the reigning Roland Garros winner lost in the Wimbledon first round as her serving problems cropped up over the summer.
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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