For the second time in three meetings at this US Open, Naomi Osaka (4th seed in the tournament) needed the third set to close out her match. On this occasion, her rival was the Ukrainian Marta Mostyuk, barely 18 years old, who was very warrior during the two and a half hours of the game. Finally, the duel was resolved with the victory of the Japanese by 6-3, 6-7 (4) and 6-2.
The champion of the tournament in 2018 asserted her effectiveness in serving -despite her difficulty in scoring first serves- saving seven of eight break balls that Mostyuk had in his favor. He even went crazy in the second set, throwing his racket to the ground. Osaka, who withdrew due to physical discomfort before playing the final at the Cincinnati Masters 1,000, he continues to seek to recover his best feelings in a tournament in which he starts among the top favorites. In addition, the Japanese woman continued with her racial vindication campaign, wearing the names of murdered black people on her mask. In this case, it was Ahmaud Arbery's turn, shot while playing sports by a former police officer and his son.
Osaka will meet in the second round against Estonia Anett Kontaveit (14th), who continues to leave good feelings and clearly beat the Polish Magda Linette (24th) 6-3 and 6-2. The Czech also advanced without problems Petra Kvitova (6th), who with her victory over Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-3, returns to the eighth of the tournament for the first time since 2017. The checha will face the local Shelby Rogers, who swept the American Madison Brengle with a convincing 6-2, 6-4. The first two games of the morning shift at Louis Armstrong were resolved in a very similar way: the favorites dominated, and in less than an hour and a half they were back in the locker room after finishing their matches in two sets. First the Croatian did Petra Martic (8th) against Russian Varvara Gracheva. Martic, who barely made 11 unforced errors in the match, beat Gracheva 6-3 and 6-3, and returns for the second consecutive year to the round of 16 of the US Open. Then it was the turn of Angelique Kerber, winner of the tournament in 2016, who repeated the script, defeating the local Ann Li 6-3, 6-4. A striking fact of the match was the number of winners for each player: 36 for the American, by 11 for the German.
Kerber will meet another North American player in the second round, this time it will be Jennifer Brady (28th). In front was Caroline Garcia, the Frenchwoman who eliminated Karolina Pliskova in the second round, first seed in the women's field. This time, Garcia could not repeat the triumph, and saw how in an hour and a quarter Brady prevailed by a resounding 6-3 and 6-3. The 25-year-old American, very effective with her serve (10 aces), reaches the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the third time in her career. Yulia Putint advanced with more sufferingseva (23rd), who had to overcome the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, number 106 of the WTA. That of Kazakhstan knew how to react, which ended up winning by 3-6, 6-2 and 6-1, and he will meet Petra Martic in the next match.
In the matches resumed this Friday after being suspended yesterday by the rain, corresponding to the second round, it was the big surprise of the day. The American Catherine McNally, number 124 in the world, traced Ekaterina Alexandrova (21st seeded) her duel 4-6, 6-3 and 7-6 (2). At 18, McNally was better in a dramatic decisive tie-break to enter for the first time in his short career. His opponent in the third round will be Elise Mertens, who also beat Sara Sorribes today.
Results of the day.