US Open champion Naomi Osaka wins the first round

NEW YORK-Defending champion Naomi Osaka returned to victory in her Grand Slam tennis and withdrew to win Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-1 on Monday in the opening round of the US Open.

Osaka did not play at Wimbledon when he retired from the French Open after the first round for mental health reasons.

In the first installment, the situation was 4 to 4 before Osaka’s power began to make its mark. Ranking No. 3 won the next seven games and increased its lead 5-0 in the second set. Osaka also collected the winners ’34-10 edge and recorded all eight break points earned by Bouzkova.

She won her second US Open championship last year by beating Victoria Azarenka in three sets.

– I’ve played a lot of matches for me [at Arthur Ashe Stadium], I think it’s the field where I’ve played the most matches in my career, “Osaka said.” But yeah, I definitely feel really comfortable here and I think playing the night match is a really great honor, of course. Playing the first night’s match is something I’ve never done before, so yeah, I’m just happy to win. “

Earlier on Monday, rising star Coco Gauff shook a trembling stretch in his opening game before the rally to 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Magda Linette. Gauff, who finished 21st, advanced in the second round to face 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens.

He had hopes to make it easier by taking the 5-3 lead and entering the first set. But Linette won the next six games to take the series and build a 2-0 lead in the second before the 17-year-old American reunited.

“I just remember, like last year, it might not have been boring, but the US Open was just so quiet,” said Gauff, who lost in the first round of last year’s tournament. “

Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza, two-time Grand Slam champions who have had difficulties here, also made tough wins.

Stephens played perhaps the hardest match of all, and it took 2 hours 10 minutes to reach the Madison Keys 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7) victory in the 2017 final.

Arthur Ashe Stadium was nowhere near crowded for the start of the match, possibly because fans had to delay the arrival of Billie Jean King’s National Tennis Center on the day they were allowed to return to the tournament.

Halep, who had consecutive first-round exits at the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018, was interrupted by Camila Giorgi 6-4, 7-6 (3). He didn’t play in last year’s fanless event.

“So it was normal for me to have people in the auditorium and the noise that is always at the US Open,” Halep said. “I started liking it. I started embracing these things. I had fun in court, and I liked some people who also shouted in Romanian and English.”

Muguruza, No. 9, rose 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) with a win over Donna Vekic.

Carla Suarez Navarro was eliminated in 26th place, Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-4 years after she was revealed that she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The Spaniard, who was once high 6, announced last September that he would receive six months of chemotherapy. He had previously planned to retire after last season, but instead returned from the French Open Treatments, where he lost in the first round. He lost again in the first round of Wimbledon before winning the round at the Olympics.

Suarez Navarro said in retrospect that it was his last single match and that he left happily.

“I lost, but this year was a gift to me, you know,” he said. “Last year these days I don’t know if I can be here again or not, and I’m here. ”

The highlight of the day could have been 20-year-old wild-card brand Alycia Parks, who tied the US Open service speed record of 129 mph set by Venus Williams 14 years ago.

Parks hit that limit 6-3, 7-5 after a first-round loss to Olga Danilovic in court at 13 Flushing Meadows. It was the first Grand Slam main event of the 6 Grand Slam Parks career.

Williams set a record in the first round match of the 2007 US Open.

Osaka participated in Ashe’s Monday night match with his usual first-round Slam shakes, but not because of winning pressures, Osaka said later.

Instead, it was based on a desire to play well, especially the loud and appreciative plenary session that was there a year after he won the title in an almost empty arena, as viewers were banned in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic at the time.

“I tell people I’m a perfectionist. I think something less than perfection, even if it could be something great, is disappointing. I really don’t think it’s a healthy mindset, so [that’s] something I really wanted to change, ”said Osaka, who next meets 145th place Olga Danilovic.

“In this tournament, I just want to be happy to know that I did my best and knowing that even though I didn’t play perfectly, I was able to win the match in two sets…. It’s more than a matter of life,” he continued. “I hope I can continue this thinking for the rest of my life.”

Maybe he wasn’t perfect against Bouzkova, who is now in 1-11 Slam matches. After all, the score was 4-all. Nevertheless, Osaka reeled in the last eight of nine matches.

He was assisted by a service that reached 120 mph.

“Last year, when we didn’t have a crowd, I know it felt pretty lonely to me,” he said with a smile in a court interview. “I’m glad to see small children in the audience — and of course adults as well.”

Osaka improved to 55-14 in major races, including the 22-3 US Open, when she tries to be the first woman to have consecutive awards in New York after Serena Williams collected her third consecutive in 2014.

Osaka defeated Williams in the 2018 chaotic final in Ash. He has also won major hard field championships at the Australian Open in 2019 and February.

“I’ve played a lot of matches on this field,” Osaka told Ashe fans. “Definitely, I feel really comfortable here.”

In other matches on Monday, three-time US Open runner-up Azarenka defeated Tereza Martincova 6-4, 6-0. Azarenka, sown 18th, was left behind in a 4-1 opening set before taking control.

Angelique Kerber, the 2016 champion, finished 16th, climbed to the edge of Dayana Yastremska 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Halep left the French Open and Wimbledon – two major tournaments he has won – with a left calf injury, and his return to Grand Slam tennis came where he has been least successful.

Her defeat for Kaia Kanep in 2018 was the first time the No. 1 seed lost in the first round of the US Open in the professional era. He admitted after this defeat that perhaps the noise in New York wasn’t just his scene, and the voices returned on Monday, and the auditoriums were once again allowed to fill to their full capacity.

“I lost a few times in the first round here, so I got a little experience from those moments,” Halep said. “There’s no other way. So I have to accept it. I have to like it and be a part of it.”

Long queues and large audiences were readjustments for all players. Keys had to wait for their Stephens match in the middle of the second half when the fans returned to their seats after the substitution.

Halep was once again in some danger against Giorgia of Italy, who recently won the hard field title in Montreal for the biggest win of his career. The No. 12 seed broke while serving match 5-4, but recovered to win the last four points of the handicap.

Muguruza has also won the French Open and Wimbledon, but the US Open is the only headquarters where he has not made it to the quarterfinals. He crashed in the first round just two years ago.

But he established himself in both semi-finals against Vekic, who reached the semi-finals in 2019.