Sania Mirza and Coco Vandeweghe were eliminated after losing to Raluca Olaru and Nadiia Kichenok in a women's doubles first-round match at the US Open.
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Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Coco Vandeweghe were eliminated from the ongoing edition of the US Open. They lost to Raluca Olaru and Nadiia Kichenok in the first round of the women’s doubles on Thursday. Sania and Vandeweghe lost the match in three sets to the twelfth seeded pair. In the first set, Sania and her American partner were clinical with their shots. Doing so, they took the lead by taking the first set 6-4.
However, the duo failed to maintain the momentum moving forward. Sania and Vandeweghe were broken early by Olaru and Kichenok, who fought back and tied the game. They took the second set 6-4.
In the decider, Sania and Vandeweghe did not look as if they were ready to fight. They were tame in their shots and made many unforced errors. As a result, they got completely blown away. They lost the set 3-6 and were eliminated from the tournament.
Novak Djokovic continued his pursuit of a calendar Grand Slam. He got through to the third round with a straight-set win over Dutch rival Tallon Griekspoor. Djokovic, who is aiming to become only the sixth player to complete a clean sweep of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, won 6-2 6-3 6-2. It was a solid display by the World Number 1.
Too easy for the world No. 1.@DjokerNole | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/dc8ZIcDml8
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2021
Alexander Zverev, among those expected to challenge the Serb, advanced with a rapid win over Albert Ramos-Vinolas. In the quickest completed men’s singles match so far, 24-year-old fourth seed Zverev needed just one hour and 14 minutes to win 6-1 6-0 6-3 against the Spaniard and reach the third round.
While Djokovic could not match that speed, it was a similarly-dominant performance from the 20-time Grand Slam champion against 121st-ranked Griekspoor. Djokovic, 34, showed signs of rustiness in his opening win over Danish teenager Holger Rune but was much improved in a solid performance on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Nishikori, runner-up in 2014, won 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 2-6 6-3 against American Mackenzie McDonald to extend his remarkable winning record in deciding fifth sets to 27-7.
But his record against Djokovic is less impressive. He lost 17 of their 19 meetings and has not beaten the Serb since their US Open semi-final seven years ago.
Italian sixth seed Matteo Berrettini overcame Frenchman Corentin Moutet in four sets.
The 2021 Wimbledon runner-up dominated the first-set but conceded the second set after being broken in the 10th game.
The 25-year-old world number eight took charge of the third and fourth sets with serve breaks in the opening games, before clinching his first match point on Moutet’s serve for a 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-4 6-3 win.
Berrettini, a US Open semi-finalist in 2019, will face Ilya Ivashka next after the Belarusian beat Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-5).
