09:30 – Clara Burel stunning, Monfils and Humbert move on to the 2nd round
She was trailing 6-0 3-0, completely overwhelmed by the stakes, lost in the immensity of the Arthur Ashe court in the night session. Then Clara Burel and everything turned upside down. Facing a Sloane Stephens who served for the match in the second and third sets, the Frenchwoman managed to break each time, to win 0-6 7-5 7-5. “At the beginning, I was a little stressed by this whole event, but honestly not more than that, I just couldn’t free myself. It came gradually,” she said after the match. “It’s one of my greatest victories.”
In the rest of the French results, Gaël Monfils got out of the Diego Schwartzman trap perfectly in four sets, 6-7 6-2 6-2 6-1. It also went well for Ugo Humbert who eliminated Tiago Monteiro in three sets 6-3 6-4 6-4, as did Arthur Cazaux and Diane Parry. On the other hand, a poor performance for Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard who was non-existent against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, beaten 6-4 6-2 6-3. The step was also too high for Kyrian Jacquet against Grigor Dimitrov.
09:19 – Djokovic and Sabalenka secure, Thiem says goodbye
The first night of the US Open tournament saw the main favourites qualify without difficulty. Scheduled in the second rotation on centre court, Novak Djokovic won 6-2 6-2 6-4 against Radu Albot. The Serb, however, seemed irritated throughout the match, and still committed 10 double faults. The reason was the time of the match, which started at 9:45 p.m. and ended a little before midnight. “I love the night sessions, maybe not this late,” he explained in an interview after the match. “I don’t think getting older really helps you stay this late.” Number two seed Aryna Sabalenka also easily qualified for the second round by defeating Australian Hon 6-3 6-3. The world number four Alexander Zverev was held a little more by his compatriot Marterer and needed four sets to qualify.
For his last US Open, Dominic Thiem could not exist against the American Ben Shelton. The Austrian was dominated 6-4 6-2 6-2, while Coco Gauff did not tremble for her return after the early elimination at the Olympic Games, beating the French Gracheva 6-2 6-0. The real surprise of the night was the defeat of Holger Rune. The Dane, in full doubt for several weeks, lost to Brandon Nakashima in three short sets 6-2 6-1 6-4.