The new roof at the U.S. Open is being put to good use.
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In years past, the precipitation would have meant no play at all at the year’s final major, prompting reruns – for TV viewers – of old matches.
Venus Williams won 6-2 6-3 victory under the roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
When it’s shut, as was the case Wednesday because of showers that delayed play on all other courts for hours at a time, the roof amplifies all of that ambient noise.
Novak Djokovic will move on to the third round of the U.S. Open after his opponent withdrew before their match because of injury.
Murray, who followed up his Wimbledon triumph with a second straight Olympic gold in Rio, didn’t let the unfamiliar din distract him in a 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 victory over tenacious Spaniard Marcel Granollers.
Williams has the chance to break a record if she notches her 23rd grand slam title at the U.S. Open in NY this month. I’m still in this sport and I just never take that moment to look back and see all the things that I’ve done because I don’t want to do that. “Neither of us did and then obviously when (we) realized it was the rain there’s nothing you can do about that”. “I m so grateful to still be here playing, winning matches”.
“You can’t hear the ball. It was hard”, Halep said.
Like Murray, he acknowledged players will need to learn to adjust. “After a few games it was okay but at the start it’s tricky”.
Agnieszka Radwanska (4) beat Britain’s Naomi Broady 7-6 (11/9), 6-3, Romanian Simona Halep (5) continued her strong run with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Czech player Lucie Safaraova and 10th seed Karolina Pliskova eliminated Paraguayan Montserrat Gonzalez 6-1, 7-5. Had a nice feeling. “It was a great experience to be there. Hopefully I’ll just get better”.
The media has rehashed the Serena Williams origin story so many times at this point in her career that anybody with even a passing interest in tennis probably has some knowledge of the superstar’s life. The Romanian is 19-2 in her last 21 matches.
The elder Williams, bedevilled by 63 unforced errors in a scrappy first-round win over Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova, cut that to 17 in a crisp performance against 64th-ranked German Goerges.
However, Williams couldn’t capitalise with a tame forehand unforced error heading into the net, and a backhand error from King handed Williams another match point, and the top seed didn’t waste the second chance by claiming the match with a forehand victor in the corner to clinch victory, 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 4 minutes.
Hitting 13 aces with the roof closed at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Williams improved to 306-42 in matches at major tournaments and in doing so went closer to the all-time record for matches won at grand slams.
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Sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori and No. 8 Dominic Thiem were among the players who had their matches halted Thursday.
