American Danielle Collins, after missing the entire North American hardcourt season, showed no signs of rust battling past twice US Open champions Naomi Osaka 7-6(5), 6-3 on Tuesday and into the second round at Flushing Meadows.
The exit of Osaka, the tournament winner in 2018 and 2020, followed reigning champion Emma Raducanu’s departure hours earlier as Flushing Meadows bid a firstround farewell to its past two champions.
Rafael Nadal, the second seed, faced a surprise test in his first US Open appearance since winning the 2019 title, as he overcame 21-year-old Australian wild card Rinky Hijikata 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday in the opening round. Playing in only his second match after pulling out of Wimbledon with an abdominal injury, the Spaniard had speculated whether he was ready to take on New York and seemed to confirm those fears as he struggled on the return in the first set.
Sakkari stumbles
On Wednesday, Greek third seed Maria Sakkari crashed out in the second round following a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 defeat by China’s Xiyu Wang while Tunisian fifth seed Ons Jabeur, the Wimbledon finalist this year, defeated American Elisabeth Mandlik 7-5, 6-2 to move into the third round.
Injury lessons
The last first-round match on the schedule was one of the most intriguing, pitting two players who produce their best on hard courts. Collins was the losing finalist to Ashleigh Barty at this year’s Australian Open and Osaka is a two-time winner of the same tournament, in addition to her US Open titles.
Both players arrived in New York on the comeback trail after injury-interrupted campaigns. Osaka said she was happy to have played through the match without her back flaring up and only began serving on Sunday. “Honestly, I just wanted to play without my back being in pain because it’s kind of been bad for the entire hard court season since Toronto,” Osaka told reporters. “I didn’t serve until two days ago so I was really happy with how it went.”
‘Nervous’ Nadal
Hijikata incredibly broke the 22-time major winner with a crisp overhead shot in the seventh game of his grand slam debut, bringing the crowd to a roar. “I started not that bad the first couple of games, but then I had some opportunities that I was not able to make,” Nadal, 36, said after the match. “I didn’t play a good game with my serve. Then he had the break. Then I was a little bit nervous.”
But a steadfast Nadal charged through the first three games of the second set, improving in virtually every respect as his opponent’s form deteriorated. Thriving on familiar territory, the four-time Flushing Meadows winner Nadal never faced a break in the third set and broke Hijikata to love in the fifth game of the final set before recovering from 0-40 in the eighth to hold his own serve.
Hijikata gave the rowdy New York crowd a final thrill as he defended four match points in the ninth before succumbing to Nadal’s vicious forehand winner, only weeks after recording his maiden Tour-level win in Los Cabos.
Rybakina falters
Frenchwoman Clara Burel joined the growing list of giant-killing qualifiers at this year’s US Open as she toppled Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-4 in the first round at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday. The support for Venus Williams on Tuesday was not the same as they were for her sister, Serena a night earlier. Nor was the result. Playing in front of thousands of empty blue seats, Venus lost 6-1, 7-6 (5) to Alison Van Uytvanck.
