Gael Monfils celebrated his 40th birthday with one last New York show, Coco Gauff negotiated a potentially awkward opening assignment and Taylor Fritz began his latest pursuit of an American breakthrough in commanding fashion on a rain-disrupted third day of the US Open.
Elena Rybakina and Mirra Andreeva also advanced comfortably, while Madison Keys survived a tense finish and Flavio Cobolli produced the comeback of the day. Persistent rain prevented several outside-court matches from being completed—or even started—but the closed roofs on Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums allowed many of the leading contenders to get their campaigns under way.
Monfils turns back the clock
For Monfils, the occasion could hardly have been scripted more perfectly.
Playing on his 40th birthday in what he has said will be his final US Open, the Frenchman recovered from a slow start to defeat Paraguayan qualifier Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.
Monfils initially looked in danger of an early farewell. Vallejo took the opening set with confident, aggressive tennis, but the complexion of the match changed sharply from the beginning of the second. Once Monfils found his range, the points became increasingly physical and the Frenchman’s superior variety began to tell.
He conceded only three games over the final three sets, treating the crowd to the athletic defence, changes of pace and improvisation that have made him one of the tour’s most popular figures.
“That was very special,” Monfils said. “Playing on my 40th birthday—you guys made it incredible.”
He also thanked the New York crowd for lifting him after the difficult beginning.
“You guys made it electric,” he said. “The atmosphere was unbelievable. I tried to put on a great show for you.”
The victory made Monfils the oldest man to win a US Open main-draw singles match since Jimmy Connors beat Jaime Oncins on his own 40th birthday in 1992. Monfils, a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows in 2016 and a former world No. 6, will face American Learner Tien in the second round.
Gauff passes her first test
Coco Gauff followed Monfils onto Arthur Ashe Stadium and delivered a composed 6-3, 6-4 victory over Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez in one hour and 20 minutes.
The 2023 champion was not entirely untroubled. Sonmez, ranked No. 53, fought hard and created three break points during a pivotal nine-minute game with Gauff serving at 2-3 in the second set.
Gauff saved all three, eventually holding after six deuces. The escape proved decisive: she broke Sonmez for 4-3 shortly afterwards and retained control through the finish.
“I wasn’t that nervous today, which was a shock,” Gauff said. “When I walked back out on this court, I was trying to hold back a smile.”
“I know that I can raise my level if I need to,” she said.
Gauff has now won seven of her eight US Open first-round matches. Since the beginning of the 2020 season, she has recorded 81 Grand Slam match victories; only Iga Swiatek, with 109, and Aryna Sabalenka, with 106, have collected more during that period. She will play either Paula Badosa or Daria Kasatkina next.
Fritz handles American encounter
Fritz produced one of the cleanest performances of the day, beating 18-year-old wild card Darwin Blanch 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
The 2024 finalist struck 14 aces and surrendered only one point behind his first serve during the opening set. Blanch showed flashes of the easy power that has makes him one of the most closely watched American prospects, but Fritz’s serving and greater consistency left him with few opportunities to establish a foothold.
The youngster’s best chance arrived early in the third set, when he earned the only two break points Fritz faced. Fritz erased them with an ace and a backhand winner before breaking Blanch in the following game.
“It’s never easy to come out and play another young American,” Fritz said. “As a top American, you have a lot of expectations. It’s normal to be nervy.”
Fritz will face Italy’s Mattia Bellucci in the second round as he continues his attempt to become the first American man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open.
Rybakina answers fitness question
Rybakina’s condition had been one of the significant questions entering the tournament after a left-ankle injury forced her to retire from her Cincinnati quarterfinal two weeks earlier.
The former Wimbledon champion supplied an emphatic answer, defeating 17-year-old American wild card Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 14 minutes.
Frodin, ranked No. 585 and making her tour-level main-draw debut after winning the USTA Girls’ 18s national title, displayed considerable serving power. Her fastest delivery was clocked at 122 mph—two miles per hour faster than Rybakina’s quickest serve—and she finished with 11 aces to Rybakina’s six.
Five of those aces came in Frodin’s penultimate service game, including three while facing match point. Her resistance extended the contest, but it could not undo the damage caused by 21 unforced errors and three double faults.
Rybakina faced two break points and saved both with unreturned serves. She broke three times and remained composed when Frodin began swinging freely late in the match.
“She has great shots, especially her serve,” Rybakina said. “She has the game. She can be quite dangerous with these kinds of shots.”
Rybakina remains in contention to leave New York as world No. 1, although she must reach at least the semifinals to have any chance of doing so.
Andreeva and Eala make emphatic starts
French Open champion Mirra Andreeva required little time to secure her place in the second round, defeating Indonesia’s Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-2.
The 19-year-old controlled the match with her return of serve and her ability to redirect the ball early. The result was particularly convincing given that Tjen had caused Andreeva considerably more difficulty in their previous meeting in Cincinnati. Andreeva will next face Germany’s Eva Lys.
Alexandra Eala was equally decisive. The 17th seed beat American qualifier Mary Stoiana 6-1, 6-2, quickly imposing herself with her left-handed patterns and taking another confident step in her breakthrough season.
Keys survives; Cobolli completes marathon comeback
Keys began her campaign with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over 19-year-old Alina Korneeva, although the scoreline did not entirely capture the tension of the closing stages.
The 22nd seed served for the match at 5-3 in the second set but was broken. She responded immediately, breaking Korneeva in the next game to secure the victory rather than allowing the contest to develop into a more complicated affair.
Keys acknowledged afterwards that opening-round nerves had affected her, but she found enough control on the most important points to advance in straight sets.
Cobolli endured a far more dramatic passage into round two. The Italian came back from two sets down to beat Francisco Comesana 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in four hours and 13 minutes.
It was Cobolli’s first career victory after losing the opening two sets. Having appeared firmly second best through the first half of the contest, he raised his physical intensity and began extending the rallies, gradually drawing more errors from Comesana before completing the turnaround deep into the afternoon.
Elsewhere, Lorenzo Musetti defeated British qualifier Arthur Fery 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, while Yulia Putintseva produced the leading women’s upset by eliminating 12th seed Belinda Bencic 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Francisco Cerundolo advanced with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Filip Misolic.
Zverev survives five-set scare
Top seed Alexander Zverev closed the night by surviving a major first-round scare against Lorenzo Sonego, recovering from two sets to one down to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-4.
Sonego claimed a tense third-set tiebreak 9-7 and came within two games of the upset, but Zverev broke late in the fourth set to force a decider before securing the decisive break in the fifth.
The victory extended Zverev’s unbeaten record against the Italian to 7-0, although this was comfortably their closest encounter. It was an unexpectedly difficult beginning for the reigning French Open champion and US Open top seed, but Zverev escaped with his title campaign intact.
Rain forces first round into Day 4
Persistent rain repeatedly interrupted the outside courts, eventually forcing a group of first-round matches to be moved to Wednesday. Alex de Minaur and Rafael Jodar were among the players whose opening matches were postponed.
Jodar had originally been due to face Thanasi Kokkinakis, but the Australian withdrew because of injury. China’s Yunchaokete Bu entered the draw as a lucky loser in Kokkinakis’s place.
It all means that Round 1 matches will now stretch over 4 days, potentially compromising players for further in the tournament where some players may get 3 days rest, and others will be forced to play on back to back days.
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