She fell to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The thing is you have to have pleasure in this match. “I was aggressive and played my best tennis today”, said Halep, who is yet to go beyond the fourth round in New York. Cilic was the surprise victor past year for his first major title.
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Nishikori had withdrawn from the hard-court warmup at Cincinnati, citing a hip damage, however he stated Monday he was nice bodily.
“I couldn’t play, couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything”, said Monfils, twice a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Open and a crowd favorite at Flushing Meadows. The World No 1 won 92% of the points played on his first serve, without facing a single break point and firing 8 aces and zero double faults.
With this result, women’s top seed, Serena Williams is expected to breeze through her quarter of the draw, and complete her pursuit for a first calendar Grand Slam since 1988.
By the time the sun finally broke through a thin veil of early-afternoon clouds, Ana Ivanovic, the seventh women’s seed and a former world No. 1, and Karolina Pliskova, the women’s eighth seed, were among the players who had been dismissed.
Ones were wild for Djokovic, who won each set 6-1 in a one hour 11 minute romp to victory for the reigning Australian and Wimbledon champion.
Nishikori, of Japan, was eliminated by France’s Beniot Pair, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4. “I just look at the next opponent”, Vandeweghe said when asked about a possible showdown against Williams. The US 23rd seed outlasted Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3.
“To beat Nishikori, for me, it was impossible to imagine this”, said Paire.
A remarkable US Open run that concluded with an appearance in the final previous year changed the perception of Kei Nishikori, but a first-round loss Monday reminded why doubts have lingered about the Japanese star.
After dropping the first set, Nishikori rallied and appeared poised to advance after seizing command of the fourth-set tie-breaker, a backhand victor giving him a 6-4 advantage and two match points.
But the chaotic first round at every Grand Slam often bites off and spits out a selection of top seeds, which is what happened to Nishikori on Day One in Flushing Meadow.
Fish, whose has struggled with anxiety disorder, decided to wrap up his career at the U.S. Open to try to make some new memories at his home Grand Slam tournament.
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In other developments on the men’s side, Tommy Haas, a 37-year-old native of Germany in his 17th U.S. Open, lost to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in five sets; No. 7 seed David Ferrer of Spain defeated Radu Albot of Moldova; No. 10 Milos Raonic of Canada beat American Tim Smyczek and No. 17 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated qualifier Matthew Ebden of Australia. Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion who was a semi-finalist this year at Roland Garros, had been the highest-ranked rival in Williams’s half of the draw following the injury-enforced withdrawal of Maria Sharapova.
