NEW YORK, August 2018

Mixed feelings for the German ladies at the US Open on a hot Tuesday in New York. No. 4 seed Angelique Kerber opened her campaign at Flushing Meadows with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Margarita Gasparyan on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Kerber struck 29 winners and broke her opponent four times to secure victory in one hour and 45 minutes. Next up for the former World No. 1 will take on Johanna Larsson. The Swede came back from a set down to knock off Alize Cornet, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Earlier on this court, former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was forced into a deciding set battle with Germany’s Andrea Petkovic before winning, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. In an exiciting encounter, Ostapenko capitalized on seven of her nine break point chances to prevail after two hours and 18 minutes.

Alexander Zverev steps into action

Alexander Zverev was the third German on the Louis Armstrong Stadium and the youngster is relishing the challenge of taking on established greats Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in pursuit of his first Grand Slam title.

“You want to win a Grand Slam the tough way,” he said ahead of the tournament. “You want to play and compete with the best players in the world.”

“They all won a Slam. They all won Masters Series’. It’s great to see them play at the level they are. Tennis is waiting for this for a long time.

“Having them back, having them all playing the best tennis again is what makes it special for all the ones that haven’t won it yet.”

Zverev with new coach Ivan Lendl in his corner took on Peter Polansky of Canada, who got into Grand Slam main draw as lucky loser for the fourth time this year.

LL-SLAM COMPLETE ✌🏻PEACE OUT pic.twitter.com/dcbRSclLDv

— Peter Polansky (@PPolansky) 24. August 2018

Zverev was in total control of the encounter, hammered 37 winners and never faced a break point to seal a 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 victory. Next up will be Nicolas Mahut of France.

Noteworthy:

• Kiki Bertens, who won the Cincinnati title earlier this month, defeated Krystina Pliskova – sister of Karolina – 6-0, 7-5 to secure her second round berth.
• Caroline Wozniacki is through to the second round after defeating former champion Sam Stosur 6-3, 6-2. The second seed will face Lesia Tsurenko on Thursday as she goes in search of her second Grand Slam title of the year.
• Kirsten Flipkens knocked out CoCo Vandeweghe, last year’s semi-finalist in New York, 6-3, 7-6(3) to progress to the second round.
• Upon the recommendation of the US Open medical team, the Extreme Heat Policy has been implemented in the afternoon for Men’s matches, offering a 10-minute break between the third and fourth set.