17 year old Croatian Borna Coric was the big story on day 2 of the U.S Open. The qualifier, ranked 204, upset last week’s Winston-Salem Open champion Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in the first round the the event.
The quaifier got 64 percent of his first serves in, won 79 percent of points behind his first delivery, and won 53 percent of points behind his second serve. Coric also hit 20 aces to 3 double-faults, and made 20 winners to 3 unforced errors.
On his return game, he had a total of 19 break points, and converted 5 of them. Rosol meanwhile had five break point chances, but could not convert any of them.
For both men, it was a match of firsts- Rosol’s first time as a seed at a slam, Coric’s first time in the main draw of a slam. Neither will forget it, and for very different reasons.
Kei Nishikori made a positive return to the court after the injury lay off that forced him out of Cincinnati. The tenth seed beat wild card Wayne Odesnik 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
John Isner was another seed (13) who flew through his match. The highest ranked American in the draw beat wildcard Marcos Giron 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(2) on Arthur Ashe. Isner’s weapon, his serve, was on song as he fired down 26 aces, made 68 percent of his first serves in, won 86% of points behind that shot, and won 86% of points on his second serve. He was firing away on the ground too, with 60 winners to 17 errors. Isner clearly enjoyed the heat and the reportedly faster than usual courts. Last night Novak Djokovic spoke of how fast the courts on Arthur Ashe were for 10pm at night, and it will be interesting to see what consequences that has should Djokovic and Isner both make their scheduled fourth round encounter.
David Ferrer (4) struggled past Damir Dzumhur, playing in his first U.S Open, 6-1, 6-2, 2-6. 6-2.
Overall, it was a good day for the seeded players as Gilles Simon (26), Richard Gasquet (12), Fabio Fognini (15), Ivo Karlovic (25), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (28), all made it through to the second round.
Commentary by Christian Deverille
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