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Top seeds together with Novak Djokovic overcame eerily quiet stands as a “weird,” spectator-free US Open began Monday with heightened security protocols for some gamers following a optimistic COVID-19 check. Several rivals had been positioned in what one in every of them described as a “bubble within a bubble” after France’s Benoit Paire was withdrawn from the lads’s draw Sunday for testing optimistic for coronavirus.
“It was made clear that the infected player was not adhering to the health protocols that have been approved by the State of New York,” a spokesperson for the United States Tennis Association instructed AFP.
A particular person accustomed to the matter mentioned Paire had been lax about sporting a face protecting.
Djokovic and prime girls’s seed Karolina Pliskova had been among the many large names to shrug off the deathly quiet at Flushing Meadows and progress to the second spherical of the primary Grand Slam of the COVID-19 period.
Match-winning factors went uncheered, ball individuals wore masks, and gamers needed to attain for their very own towels in a tightly managed setting that made for a opening day Slam in contrast to another.
“The conditions are strange, we miss the fans,” mentioned France’s Kristina Mladenovic after a 7-5, 6-2 win over American Hailey Baptiste.
Mladenovic was one in every of a number of gamers pressured to stick to stricter security measures after compatriot Paire was withdrawn.
‘Fake bubble’
Several rivals together with Richard Gasquet, Adrian Mannarino and Edouard Roger-Vasselin had been involved with Paire, in response to French sports activities publication L’Equipe, resulting in doubts about their participation.
The USTA confirmed that various gamers had been now being examined each day, fairly than each 4 days.
They at the moment are additionally solely allowed to go away their lodge room to journey to the US National Tennis Center. Previously that they had been allowed in communal areas.
“We got some bad news two days ago and since then I’ve been living in a nightmare,” mentioned 30th seed Mladenovic.
“I wasn’t even sure if I would able to play. We’ve been in a bubble inside a bubble. So I’m very grateful that we were able to play today,” she added.
Paire in the meantime was making ready to go away the match questioning the protocols put in place in New York.
“I’m fine for now I have no symptoms .. I hesitate to tell what is really going on in this Fake Bubble,” Paire wrote on Instagram.
Djokovic defeated unheralded Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 as he launched his bid for an 18th Grand Slam with a win at an Arthur Ashe Stadium devoid of 23,000 screaming followers.
Pliskova made gentle work of 145th-ranked Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 6-Zero in one of many early matches.
And German Angelique Kerber, the 2016 US Open champion, additionally progressed to the second spherical, because of a tightly fought 6-4, 6-Four victory in opposition to Australia’s Ajila Tomljanovic.
“It’s a little bit weird to play without fans and without the support and the atmosphere on the center courts,” Kerber mentioned.
There was disappointment for US starlet Coco Gauff, the 16-year-old who lit up Wimbledon final 12 months with a run to the fourth spherical. Gauff fell on the first hurdle, dropping to Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Black Lives Matter banners are on show in the principle arenas and fourth seed Naomi Osaka wore a Breonna Taylor masks, days after she threatened to not play a semi-final to protest the police taking pictures of Jacob Blake, a black man.
Osaka, of Haitian and Japanese heritage, mentioned she had six different masks bearing the names of black folks killed by police that she hoped to put on all through the Grand Slam.
“So I have seven and it’s quite sad that seven isn’t enough for the amount of names,” mentioned the 22-year-old after defeating Japanese compatriot Misaki Doi 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
“Hopefully I’ll get to the finals and you’ll see all of them,” she added.
Zverev, Tsitsipas advance
In the lads’s draw, fifth seed Alexander Zverev was made to work exhausting in a three-hour-long tussle with 2017 finalist Kevin Anderson, the German in the end prevailing 7-6 (7/2) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.
Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas eased by way of with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win over Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
The absence of defending champion Rafael Nadal and Swiss legend Roger Federer offers Djokovic a major alternative to realize floor on his rivals within the chase for the all-time males’s Grand Slam singles title file.
Djokovic presently has 17, behind Nadal on 19 and Federer on 20.
Promoted
The US Open is the primary Grand Slam for the reason that Australian Open in January and February, after the worldwide pandemic worn out a lot of the season, together with Wimbledon.
Serena Williams begins her bid for a 24th profession Grand Slam girls’s singles crown to match the all-time file set by Margaret Court on Tuesday.
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