Defending champion and No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia made quick work of first-round opponent Stefan Kozlov of the United States, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in two hours and one minute as the U.S. Open kicked off Monday in New York.
Medvedev had a 10-0 advantage in aces and converted 8 of 16 break-point opportunities to overpower Kozlov.
“I am pleased to win. Not easy conditions. Pretty hot and humid here,” Medvedev said. “I was sweating a lot but I thought there were some good points. I managed to be pretty solid and I thought the serve was key today. I am happy to go through to the second round.”
Medvedev won his first Grand Slam title last year by defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final, denying Djokovic the calendar Grand Slam.
Medvedev’s second-round opponent will be Arthur Rinderknech, who advanced past fellow Frenchman Quentin Halys 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2.
Former world No. 1 Andy Murray of Great Britain downed No. 24 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.
Murray concurred that the humid conditions provided a challenge.
“I am very happy with the way I got through that one, it was not easy,” Murray said. “He (Cerundolo) has had a brilliant year this year and I knew I had to play well and I did in the important moments.”
Murray, who hit six aces and won 39 of his 52 first-service points (75 percent) against Cerundolo, will face American wild card Emilio Nava in the next round. Nava defeated Australia’s John Millman 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-1.
American wild card J.J. Wolf beat Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the 16th seed, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Chinese qualifier Yibing Wu eliminated No. 31 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.
No. 5 seed Casper Ruud of Norway and No. 6 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada advanced as expected, though Auger-Aliassime needed four sets to beat Swiss qualifier Alexander Ritschard 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. No. 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain knocked out Austrian wild card Dominic Thiem, the former world No. 3, 7-5, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.
Other seeded winners Monday included No. 13 Matteo Berrettini of Italy, No. 18 Alex de Minaur of Australia, No. 27 Karen Khachanov of Russia and No. 29 Tommy Paul of the U.S.
Nuno Borges, a qualifier from Portugal, outlasted American wild card Ben Shelton 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 6-3 in four hours and two minutes.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, Cristian Garin and Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, Hugo Grenier of France, Sebastian Korda of the U.S., Thiago Monteiro of Brazil and Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands also won Monday.
–Field Level Media