U.S. Open Recap: Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka Headline Day One Winners on Men’s Side

August 26, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff

Fans had to wait till after 10 p.m. on Monday night to get a glimpse of top-seeded Novak Djokovic’s 2014 US Open debut, and he didn’t make them wait much longer after that, as the Serbian rolled over Argentinean Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in a match that ended just before midnight.

Djokovic faced no issues in his opening round match. He quickly jumped ahead 4-0 before Schwartzman got on the board. After cruising through the first two sets, the third became a bit tougher as Schwartzman notched a break point down 2-3. The Serb responded with a break of his own, and eventually served out the match to wrap up the straight set victory.

“The last three weeks actually, Toronto and Cincinnati, were a bit tough emotionally for me. I wasn’t finding my game. I wasn’t able to feel comfortable on the court,” said Djokovic, who had disappointing outings in the lead ups to the US Open. “But now it’s different. I feel emotionally recharged and ready to go.”

Up next for the top seed is France’s Paul Henri-Mathieu who defeated Gilles Muller in a hard-fought five-set bout.

Andy Murray battled through full-body cramps during his match to knock off Dutchman Robin Haase 6-3, 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-5 in their opening-round match Monday. The eighth-seeded Brit felt the cramps come on early in the third set; just an hour and half after the match began.

It’s the worst I have ever felt after an hour and a half of a tennis match,” said Murray. “I felt extremely good before the match, and I did train very, very hard to get ready for the tournament. For me it was unexpected, and therefore, quite difficult mentally to deal with. When it starts to kind of go everywhere, you don’t know exactly where it’s going to creep up next. When you stretch one muscle, something else then cramps, too.”

Murray trailed 1-4 in the fourth-set as it looked like Haase was ready to force the match into a deciding fifth-set. The Dutchman then led 5-3 and was serving, but Murray broke back and eventually took the next four games to wrap up the win and move on.

Murray, who won this tournament back in 2012, takes on Matthias Bachinger of Germany after Bachinger knocked off Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka notched a straight-set victory on Monday, defeating Jiri Vesely 6-2, 7-6(6), 7-6(3). The Swiss native picked up four break points on his way to victory, and the Australian Open champion draws a second-round matchup with Thomaz Bellucci after the Brazilian beat France’s Nicolas Mahut.

Canadian Milos Raonic rolled past qualifier Taro Daniel 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(1) in his first-round bout. The big-serving Raonic fired 20 aces in the three sets, and will meet Peter Gojowczyk in next round.

Americans Donald Young and Bradley Klahn were both ousted on Monday. Young was beat fairly easily by Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic in straight sets, while Klahn couldn’t get past Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Century
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