Ailing Jabeur battles into US Open second round

NEW YORK: Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur overcame a medical scare to battle into the second round of the US Open on Tuesday with a straight sets defeat of Colombia’s Camila Osorio.

Jabeur, chasing a first Grand Slam crown after three agonising defeats in finals since 2022, opened her US Open campaign with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory on the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The 29-year-old looked to be struggling during a tense first set, complaining to the chair umpire that she was having difficulty breathing after Osorio fought back from 4-1 down to level at 4-4.

Jabeur needed treatment from medical staff after going 5-4 down in the first set, but then rallied to take the first set and appeared to poised to clinch victory after holding two match points in the second set while 5-3 up.

However Osorio rallied to stave off defeat, and went on to level at 5-5 after breaking Jabeur.

Jabeur broke back immediately to take a 6-5 lead but was then broken once again to send the second set to a tie break.

Jabeur proved too strong for Osorio in the breaker, however, and will now face the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova in the second round.

Men’s third seed Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 champion in New York, raced into the second round with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Hungary’s Attila Balazs.

Medvedev pumped 41 winners past the unranked journeyman Balazs in a one-sided encounter lasting 74 minutes.

The Russian will play the winner of the all-Australian clash between Max Purcell and Christopher O’Connell for a spot in the last 32.

On Monday, Novak Djokovic ensured he will return to the top of tennis’s world rankings with an emphatic first round victory, while Caroline Wozniacki also made a winning return.

It was also a bright start for home hopes of a US winner at the championships, with Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe enjoying routine wins in their bids to become the first American man to win a Grand Slam title in 20 years.

On the women’s side, Coco Gauff was made to work for her place in the second round.

Djokovic, chasing a record-extending 24th Grand Slam singles title in New York, shrugged off a late-night start on the Arthur Ashe Stadium to demolish France’s Alexandre Muller 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 in just 1hr 35min.

The win means Djokovic, prevented from playing in last year’s US Open due to being unvaccinated against Covid-19, is guaranteed to replace defending US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz as world number one when the tennis rankings are next updated after the tournament.

The 36-year-old, who will face Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the second round, played like a man making up for lost time, reeling off 32 winners and breaking Muller eight times in a lopsided encounter that finished at around 12.40am local time.

The US Open also welcomed back fan favourite and twice finalist Wozniacki, who retired in 2020 to raise a family and marked her return to Grand Slam tennis with a tidy 6-3, 6-2 win over Russian qualifier Tatiana Prozorova.

Sixth seed Gauff, winner in her final US Open tune-up in Cincinnati, got off to a nervy start and had to fight back against feisty German Laura Siegemund before advancing 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

In contrast to Gauff’s laboured win, Danielle Collins, the 2022 Australian Open finalist, turned on the jets to dispose of Czech Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-0 in a lightning quick 52 minutes.

Kazakhstan’s fourth seed Elena Rybakina was an easy winner over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, cruising through to the second round with a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

Back in the men’s draw meanwhile, Djokovic’s route to a potential final meeting with Alcaraz was made easier as Danish fourth seed Holger Rune was stunned in four sets by Spanish journeyman Roberto Carballes Baena, a clay-court specialist ranked 63rd in the world.

Carballes Baena punished an error-strewn display by Rune to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Last year’s US Open runner-up, Norway’s fifth seed Casper Ruud, reached the second round with a battling 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) defeat of Emilio Nava of the United States.

The top-ranked American men were hardly tested on Monday, with ninth seed Fritz crushing compatriot Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 and Tiafoe, the 10th seed, beating another American, Learner Tien, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1.

Christopher Eubanks, who grabbed the limelight with an unexpected run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals, was also a popular winner with the home crowd after he beat South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo 6-3, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.