Tuesday was a wet day in New York as only seven of the 32 women’s first round matches from the top half were completed. The rain took me by surprise because I hadn’t even realised that it was on the forecast! After the first set of matches, it was nice just to be able to watch Kerber-Osaka (more on that later) without trying to watch five matches at the same time.
Good news on the Eurosport Player front – I reset my password and it worked this time so I was able to access my account. I am very disappointed to hear that others are still having problems. I have yet to have a response to my initial e-mail to Eurosport support.
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The number one seed, Karolina Pliskova dropped just three games in a solid opener, beating Lesia Tsurenko, 6-2 6-1. Pliskova served out the match to love with a second serve ace.
A pair of 6-1 6-3 results – the number 23 seed, Barbora Strycova and Sorana Cirstea were never troubled in first round wins over Misaki Doi and Lesley Kerkhove respectively.
A pair of 6-3 6-1 results – the number six and 28 seeds, Angelique Kerber and Lesia Tsurenko, both went out at the first hurdle to Naomi Osaka and Yanina Wickmayer respectively. Check out my review of Osaka’s sensational win over Kerber, her first top ten win, at the link below.
The first round match between Jelena Ostapenko and Lara Arruabarrena was moved to Arthur Ashe Stadium under the roof with Ostapenko leading 3-1 in the third set. Ostapenko recovered from a shocker of a second set (only 24% of first serves in and 20% of first serves won!) and closed out the match in style, winning 12 of the 14 points played on Ashe. This was Ostapenko’s first win since Wimbledon. As long as she’s in the draw, watch out for the Penko!
While I was asleep…
Madison Keys beat Elise Mertens in the first night match on Ashe, 6-3 7-6(6) – Keys saved a set point in the second set tiebreak.
The following matches are in progress and will resume on Wednesday:
Nicole Gibbs leads Veronica Cepede Royg, 6-0 1-6 1-0
Monica Niculescu leads Kristina Mladenovic, 6-3 1-1
Elina Svitolina leads Katerina Siniakova, 6-0 6-6 (2-1)
Francesca Schiavone leads Kaia Kanepi, 6-0 2-4
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I was watching the end of the second set between Svitolina and Siniakova – I have no idea what happened in the first set! Siniakova was beginning to dominate as she broke Svitolina when she served for the match at 6-0 *5-4. Siniakova was getting Svitolina out wide on the forehand side and charging the net too. The tiebreak began with three straight winners – I was really enjoying the match so sad when the rain came!
Wednesday’s schedule is nuts. I am absolutely BAFFLED by the choice of Eugenie Bouchard-Evgeniya Rodina on Arthur Ashe stadium – a really shocking decision there. I’m out on Wednesday night so I look forward to catching up with the madness when I get back 😂😂😂.
A quartet of polls up for second round matches on Wednesday – Stephens vs. Cibulkova just pips Wozniacki vs. Makarova as the match of the round for me. Kvitova vs. Cornet could be a close one and intrigued by Peng vs. Vekic.
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A few wrap-ups from day 1 of the US Open…
Sharapova said in press that she questioned whether she would play the final Slam of the year. She’s got a favourable draw going forward but I am wondering how she holds up physically.
Really liked this from Simona Halep on Instagram after her three set loss to Maria Sharapova.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYYW5CbgLkF/?hl=en&taken-by=simonahalep
Enjoyed this podcast with Aleksandra Krunic, who knocked out Johanna Konta on day 1.
And finally, the rain gave me the chance to watch the first episode of the new Great British Bake Off on Channel 4. It was rather odd without Mel, Sue and Mary, but I did enjoy it and some of the bakes were amazing – i’m still marveling at the watermelon cake! I’m really encouraged by this year’s batch of bakers and they are the stars for me. Again, i’m planning to bake something new from every show and I definitely want to try the chocolate mini rolls!
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Kerber and Halep adding more coaches, will this be a case of ” Too many cooks spoil the broth” ?
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The american announcer during the Pova/Halep match said the weather looks great for the next 2 weeks, maybe for the frogs in the wetlands. Weather from hurricane Harvey should hit the east coast in about 3 days.
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Bouchard on center court—The USTA trying to maximize its income from Bouchard before she hits them with her law suite. ($100 million?)
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Hindsight is better than foresight. Halep should have played the New Haven tournament and picked up the number one ranking, then let the chips fall where they may at the USO.
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I think she did need the rest. She should come into the ranking on her own terms. Imagine the story now, you’ll have the defending champion and the world number 1 both out at the start of thetournament. That isn’t good PR for the wta.
Halep is a fairly thoughtful kind of woman. She will find her place soon enough.
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I agree, she only needed five points. That would have meant though that she played solidly through the US season from Cincy onwards without a break (including the US Open). That’s a lot to ask of any player – and of course she didn’t know she’d be drawn against Maria in the first round.
She could also have vultured an ITF tournament after Cincy, played enough matches to get her five points plus and then withdrew – but she isn’t the sort of person to do that and it wouldn’t have been fair on her ITF opponents who wouldn’t have had a prayer of beating her
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