Swiatek and Sinner’s Hard Work

World number one Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek had a more complicated start than expected at the US Open on Tuesday, but still had better results than Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 11), who has already departed.

Sinner was clearly confused by the doping incident that became public last week, and even though he was cleared, he completely missed the start of the match: with 14 unforced errors and conceded three break points, the Italian lost the first set and eventually dominated American Mackenzie MacDonald (140th match) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.

The latter seemed to have given up completely at the end of the second set: he scored only 6 points in the third set and 9 points in the fourth set.

“He played really well in the beginning and I tried to stay in the match mentally. It was my first win on this court after many attempts.the Italian stressed before leaving the huge enclosure of Arthur Ashe’s court.

Sinner, who was scheduled to play after Swiatek, had to be ready to play early, especially as the Pole quickly defeated Russian Kamila Rakhimova (No. 104) 4-0.

But then she went off the rails a bit, allowing her opponent to regain confidence and showing an unusually high waste rate.

After winning the match point, she did not show any joy, which showed her dissatisfaction.

The FAA is still defeated

“I started out really good but then I wasn’t so good. My opponent was feeling good.”analyzed shortly after the Pole’s hard-fought victory of 6-4, 7-6 (8/6). “I’m trying to adapt to the court and hopefully my rhythm will improve day by day”she added, evidently impatient to return to the dressing-room.

In the second set, Swiatek served and led 5-4. But she failed to finish the game and Rakhimova chased to 5-5.

In the tie-break, Rakhimova won three tie-break points in each set (6/3), but Swiatek then won five points to end the match.

In the women’s draw, Naomi Osaka (No. 88) couldn’t hold back tears after defeating Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (No. 10) 6-3, 6-2.

The Japanese, a former world No. 1 before leaving the WTA Tour due to psychological problems and subsequently having a child, has not beaten a top-10 player since beating Kiki Bertens (No. 9) in Brisbane in 2020.

“Last year, I came to see Coco (Gauff) play her half. I was in the audience and I didn’t know if I could ever reach that level again. So it was very important for me to play against a strong player like Ostapenko and beat her.she explained.

Fear of heights

“Also, the stands were full, so I wondered if people would come to see me play.”she added.

The Japanese player did not participate in the first two US Opens. This year, she lost in the first round of the Australian Open and lost at the French Open and Wimbledon.

After Austrian Dominic Thiem and Argentinian Diego Schwartzman on Monday, 30-year-old Danielle Collins (11th) played her last Grand Slam match on Tuesday: the American, 2022 Australian Open finalist, surprised her compatriot Caroline Doerheide (49th) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

In the men’s competition, the day was marked by the elimination of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas by the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis (86ᵉ) 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 and the Canadian Félix Auger – Aliassime (19th), who won by the Czech Jakub Mensik (65th) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Surprise… in the end, no. The U.S. Major is Tsitsipas’ least successful tournament. Tsitsipas has never made it past the third round and was eliminated in the second round last year.

As for Auger-Aliassime, who reached the semifinals in Flushing Meadows in 2022 and the quarterfinals in Australia in 2023, he has never made it past the round of 16 in a Grand Slam since then. In the past seven Grand Slams, he has been eliminated in the first round five times.