US Open: Victoria Azarenka v Marta Kostyuk in politically-charged clash, Emma Raducanu loses
Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk are on a collision course at the US Open as tensions simmer against a backdrop of war.
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Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine are set for a politically-charged US Open grudge match after advancing to a second round showdown on Tuesday.
Former world number one Azarenka defeated Ashlyn Krueger of the United States in three sets while Kostyuk advanced to the second round with a straight sets win over Egypt’s Mayar Sherif.
The results mean Azarenka and Kostyuk will face off against each other on Thursday against the backdrop of simmering recent player tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Only last week, Azarenka was axed from an exhibition event on the eve of the US Open aimed at raising money for Ukraine.
Azarenka was due to have joined a star-studded field for the event, which was timed to coincide with Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations.
Kostyuk was one of a number of Ukraine players who spoke out about Azarenka’s participation. Organisers subsequently jettisoned Azarenka from the event.
Belarus is a close ally of Russia and has allowed Moscow to use its territory to launch attacks into Ukraine.
Kostyuk said she turned down the chance to play in last week’s event in protest at the presence of Azarenka.
“When we found out that there would be representatives of Russia or Belarus at this event, I immediately said that I will not participate in this,” the 20-year-old said.
Despite having been banned from Wimbledon after the invasion of Ukraine, players from Russia and Belarus have been allowed to take part in the US Open.
However, they are barred from competing under the name or flag of their countries.
US Open champ makes history for all wrong reasons
—AFP
Defending champion Emma Raducanu of Britain was sent crashing out of the US Open in the first round on Tuesday, losing in straight sets to France’s Alize Cornet.
Eleventh seed Raducanu became only the third women’s defending champion in history to lose in the first round as Cornet crafted a scintillating performance to seal a deserved 6-3, 6-3 victory on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The 32-year-old Frenchwoman, ranked 40th in the world, drew on all her experience to outfox the 19-year-old Raducanu, boldly pulling off a string of exquisite drop shots at key moments to set up the victory.
Cornet, who also produced an upset at Wimbledon last month with a straight sets defeat of world number one Iga Swiatek, attributed her recent improvements to maturity.
“I think I’m just handling my emotions better, that’s it,” Cornet said. “I guess I’m getting old and getting more mature and now when I have to serve for the match I stay in the match and stay in the present moment and really think about what I have to do.
“I think managing my emotions is just much better and I’m really happy because it shows in my results. It’s good because I’m 32. Better late than never.” Raducanu had been the darling of the Flushing Meadows crowd last year, when she made history by emerging from qualifying to claim a fairytale maiden Grand Slam.
That win marked the first time ever a qualifier had lifted a Grand Slam title. But she has since struggled to recapture the form that swept her to an improbable championship crown last year. In three previous Grand Slams this year she had gone no further than the second round.
Her exit on Tuesday sees her join Angelique Kerber in 2017 and Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2005 as the only defending US Open champions who have fallen at the first hurdle.
A finely balanced contest was settled by Cornet’s ability to show greater composure when it mattered as Raducanu froze.
Cornet had broken Raducanu to lead 4-2 in the first set, only for the Briton to claw her way back in the next game with a break that made it 4-3.
But Raducanu squandered a 40-15 lead on her next service game before double-faulting to gift Cornet a break which left the Frenchwoman 5-3 up and serving for the set. Cornet duly held serve to seize the advantage.
Raducanu, who has been bothered by finger blisters this season, took a medical time out in between the first and second sets to treat the problem once more.
It looked to have paid off as she raced into a 3-1 lead in the second set. But once again she was unable to make her advantage count, and it was Cornet, with one of several sublime drop shots scattered throughout her victory, who broke back.
Cornet held to love for 3-3 and then broke Raducanu twice more to seal a win which sets up a second round meeting with the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova.
RUSTY WILLIAMS CAN’T COMPETE, WON’T QUIT
Venus Williams tumbled out of the US Open at the first hurdle on Tuesday, beaten in straight sets by unheralded Belgian Alison van Uytvanck.
Two-time US Open champion Williams, 42, fell 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) to van Uytvanck, the 28-year-old world number 43.
Unlike younger sister Serena, who has indicated she plans to retire after this tournament, Venus has given no clue as to when she will call time on her career.
Despite losing all four of the singles matches she has now played in 2022, the seven-time Grand Slam champion insisted she was still motivated to compete.
Asked what was driving her to compete at the highest level, she told reporters: “Three letters: W-I-N. That’s it. Very simple.” Williams also maintained she had taken satisfaction from her performances in recent weeks, which saw her play in Cincinnati, Toronto and Washington DC after a near year-long lay-off in which her world ranking plunged to 1,504. She was given a wildcard into the New York draw.
“It was definitely the longest time I have been away from tennis and been without a racquet in my hand,” she said.
“So it was a completely new experience for me, getting a racquet back in my hand and trying to acclimate as quick as possible to be ready for the US Open, which was not easy.
“Definitely, like, playing lots of great points but it’s just, in the end, it’s just rust.
“So I’m very excited about, you know, all the good moments that I had this summer. I definitely walked out there and did my best under the circumstances.”
French flop cops it for lame US Open effort
Unpredictable French player Benoit Paire slipped to an embarrassingly one-sided loss to Cameron Norrie at the US Open on Tuesday with the British winner claiming: “Maybe the heat got to him”.
Norrie eased to a 6-0, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0 victory on a sweltering and humid Court 11 where the temperature rocketed past the 30-degree mark.
Paire lost the first set in just 18 minutes and the third in 19. He was so dispirited that at 0-5 down in the third, he even packed his kit bag despite there being another game to play.
“Obviously it was really hot, and maybe towards the end of that third set he was playing really quick and trying to make the points really short, and maybe the heat was getting to him,” said seventh seed Norrie.
Paire, who sat down in a corner of the court to take shade during a break in play, will pocket $80,000 for his 98-minute defeat.
The entire match was only 15 minutes longer than it took Carlos Alcaraz and Sebastian Baez to play just the second set of their gruelling first round clash taking place at the same time over on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
In Benoit Paire's defence, I too turn up at my job everyday with the attitude of someone that would rather be anywhere else in the world...
— Scott Barclay (@BarclayCard18) August 30, 2022
Cam Norrie beats the barely trying Benoit Paire in 6-0 7-6 6-0. First set took 18 minutes, the third 19 minutes. If it was a horse race there would be a stewards' inquiry.
— Mike Dickson (@Mike_Dickson_DM) August 30, 2022
Cam Norrie is through to the second round, winning 6-0 7-6 6-0 against a tanking-trying-tanking Benoit Paire. Minimum energy expended.#USOpen
— James Gray (@jamesgraysport) August 30, 2022
Cameron Norrie just took he first set 6-0 on Benoit Paire in 18 minutes.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) August 30, 2022
Paire has won 8 points, hit 1 winner and 16 unforced errors and he hasn't yet won a single return point. Great performance.
Paire, now ranked 173 in the world, came into the tournament with just four wins all year.
He remains a polarising figure having been warned for not trying at Wimbledon in 2021. He was also kicked of the French team at the 2016 Olympics for flouting team rules.
“He’s a really good guy. Everyone loves him on the tour, and he’s super talented, as well,” said a diplomatic Norrie.
“Yeah, I think he has days like this, it’s tough to be consistent on the tour playing like that.”
Wimbledon champion crashes out in first round
Elena Rybakina crashed out of the US Open at the first hurdle on Tuesday, slumping to a straight sets defeat against French qualifier Clara Burel.
Burel, ranked 131st in the world, punished a lacklustre performance from 25th-seeded Rybakina to advance 6-4, 6-4.
Despite winning her maiden Grand Slam title in early July, Kazakhstan’s Rybakina received a lowly US Open seeding due to the fact her Wimbledon victory carried no rankings points.
Wimbledon was stripped of points by the WTA and ATP Tours over the championships’ decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus.
That meant that Tuesday’s opener featuring the Wimbledon champion was relegated to one of Flushing Meadows’ outside courts.
Burel immediately looked more at home in the surroundings, and seized the initiative to take the first set before building a lead in the second.
Rybakina meanwhile was unable to generate momentum after a string of 37 unforced errors throughout the match.
She duffed a straightforward return from a Burel second serve into the net to give the Frenchwoman match point.
Burel then unfurled a corking forehand winner up the line on the next point to seal victory.
Burel will play either Venus Williams or Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck in the second round.
Alcaraz wins by default
Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz battled into the US Open second round on Tuesday when Argentine opponent Sebastian Baez retired injured.
Alcaraz, a quarter-finalist in New York in 2021, won through 7-5, 7-5, 2-0 in two hours and 31 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“Nobody wants to see a match end like this. Sebastian is a great player, fights to the last ball and deserves better things,” said the 19-year-old.
After a gruelling 83-minute second set, world number 37 Baez called the trainer for a medical time-out but gave up the fight two games into the third set.
“Last year was one of the best moments of my life,” said Alcaraz who reached the last eight in New York with a ranking of 54.
“It’s a such a special place for me to play on the biggest stadium in our sport.”
Swiatek sets up potential Stephens showdown
World number one Iga Swiatek breezed into the second round of the US Open on Tuesday with a straight sets victory over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.
The Polish top seed, who has never gone past the fourth round in New York, wrapped up a 6-3, 6-0 win in 1hr 7min on the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Swiatek, the reigning French Open champion, will face either Belgium’s Greet Minnen or 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the second round.
Swiatek took control of Tuesday’s contest early in the first set, grabbing service breaks in the third and fifth games to race into a 4-1 lead.
Although Paolini rallied to break back to 4-2, the Italian was broken again as Swiatek opened up a 5-2 lead.
Swiatek suffered another break as she served for the set, but broke back immediately to clinch the opener 6-3.
Paolini’s resistance crumbled in the second set, with Swiatek dominating her opponent to score three breaks to clinch victory.
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