US Open | Fluent start for Djokovic; Osaka struggles

Pliskova has it easy in the opening round, but Gauff and Isner fall at the first hurdle

Top seeds Novak Djokovic, Karolina Pliskova and Naomi Osaka were among the big names to shrug off the deathly quiet at Flushing Meadows and progress to the second round as a “weird,” spectator-free US Open started on Monday with heightened safety protocols for some players following a positive COVID-19 test.

Several competitors were placed in what one of them described as a “bubble within a bubble” after France’s Benoit Paire was withdrawn from the men’s draw Sunday for testing positive for coronavirus.

 

Djokovic defeated unheralded Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 as he launched his bid for an 18th Grand Slam with a win at an Arthur Ashe Stadium devoid of 23,000 screaming fans.

The women’s top seed Pliskova made light work of 145th-ranked Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 6-0 in one of the early matches.

Making a statement

Black Lives Matter banners are on display in the main arenas and fourth seed Naomi Osaka wore a Breonna Taylor mask, days after she threatened not to play a semifinal to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, while defeating Japanese compatriot Misaki Doi 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Osaka said she had six other masks bearing the names of black people killed by police that she hoped to wear throughout the Grand Slam.

“So I have seven and it’s quite sad that seven isn’t enough for the amount of names.”

There was disappointment for US starlet Coco Gauff, the 16-year-old who lit up Wimbledon last year with a run to the fourth round. Gauff fell at the first hurdle, losing to Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Men’s fifth seed Alexander Zverev was made to work hard in a three-hour-long tussle with 2017 finalist Kevin Anderson, the German ultimately prevailing 7-6(2) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas eased through with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win over Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

However, it was a first round exit for ninth-seeded Diego Schwartzman and 16th seed John Isner, both going down in five sets.

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