Venus Williams fought bravely before retiring from the US Open. Up. When returning to Grand Slam Tennis on Monday when the Spanish ace Carlos Alcaraz broke into the second round with a dominant opening victory.
The second full day of action in New York saw all the eyes turn to the night session of the Arthur Ashe stadium, where Williams, 45, lost in three sets of the 11th seed Karolina Muchva.
Williams only returned to competitive tennis in July after an absence of 16 months of sport and had been awarded a wild card in the main draw in Flushing Meadows.
But the hopes of a fairy tale race, 28 years after their debut in the tournament, ended up in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 defeat against Muchva, who was not even born when Williams became a professional in 1994.
“I didn’t win today, but I’m very proud of the way I played,” said Williams, the US Open champion in 2000 and 2001.
“I don’t think I had a crowd of my side like that. I knew that people around the world and the United States really support me, and that felt great.”
With the American departure, the 2022 male champion, Alcaraz, took a stage center at the end of the game in his first round against the American not sown Reilly Opelka.
The Spanish arrived for the game wearing a new striking hairstyle, a severe crew cut, and he properly cut the 6-foot and 11-inch Opelka with a 6-4 victory, 7-5, 6-4 in 2 hours 5 minutes.
“Today was really difficult,” Alcaraz said.
“Reilly is a great and hard player. I couldn’t get the rhythm I wanted to get, but I am very happy with what I did today. Today I did a great performance.”
Alcaraz is chasing a second title of the US Open. Uu. After his first Grand Slam victory in the tournament three years ago.
The winner of the Australian Open, Madison Keys, became the best classified player to leave so far, the sixth seed he lost to Renata Zarazua 6-7 (10/12) of Mexico, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.
“Today was the first time in a time when my nerves really surpassed me and became a little paralyzing,” said Home Hope Keys.
“I was slow, I wasn’t seeing things as I wanted, what I feel it turned out in many bad decisions and a lazy feet game.”
Kvitova farewell
Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic surpassed the growing Canadian star Victoria Mboko, defeating the adolescent 6-3, 6-2.
The 19th Belgian sown Elise Mertens expelled the wildcard Alyssa Ahn 6-1, 6-0 while the Sow 30 Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska came out in a 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 defeats against Russia Anastasia Pavlyuchenko.
Petra Kvitova, twice Wimbledon, caused the curtain of his career after a 6-1 and 6-0 defeat against the Diane Parry of France.
The 35 -year -old Czech had already announced his intention to retire after the US Open.
“I hoped to make a better show today,” Kvitova said.
“It was difficult to know that it could be my last game, and emotionally it was also very difficult.”
The Coleman Wong qualifier became the first man of Hong Kong to register a victory in an event of singles Grand Slam in the open era with a defeat of 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) of the American player Aleksandar Kovacevic.
It was the last of a series of progress results of young Asian players in the US Open this year.
Alexandra Eala de Filipinas, who trains with Wong at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, and Janice Tjen de Indonesia won her first round matches in the main raffle.
The fifth British seed Jack Draper needed four sets to overcome Federico Gómez of Argentina, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7/9), 6-2.
Other seeds to advance included Casper Ruud de Norway, the twelfth seed, which knocked Sebastian Ofner of Austria 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
The US chair 17 French Tiafoe beat Yoshihito Nishioka from Japan 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
