The 2024 US Open continued on Wednesday with a strong list of tennis stars, including Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic among those battling for the title at Flushing Meadows.
The defending champions, both men’s and women’s, both had tough times — literally in Djokovic’s case — but both advanced to the third round without dropping a set.
After a tough first set, Gauff managed to prevail against Tatjana Maria in three sets, overcoming the veteran German to advance to the third round. Although Gauff was able to use her athleticism to her advantage, Maria made her work for her in the first set, forcing her to do everything on the court.
Gauff won the first game with relative ease, but quickly found herself trailing 2-1 after a strong effort from Maria. Gauff equalized with a few good games and eventually took a 5-3 lead after winning a long game with several tiebreak games. Maria took advantage of a few unforced errors to make it 5-4 and get within a game of Gauff’s lead. Gauff then got creative, taking the lead after a tricky drop shot to the inside corner.
On set point, Gauff’s confidence seemed to waver and she lost the lead after another double fault, her seventh of the set. A long rally on break point was strangely interrupted by the electronic detection system, despite the ball being well inside the line, forcing Gauff and Maria to replay the point. Eventually, Gauff, visibly frustrated with her performance so far, was able to take the first set after Maria sent the ball into the net.
Gauff came back much stronger in the second set, quickly winning the first three games. Maria did her job for the fourth, but Gauff was eventually able to take a 4-0 lead. Gauff, after largely wearing down the 37-year-old Maria, then won the next two games to win the match 6-4, 6-0.
Gauff also had to deal with a lot of errors, committing nine double faults and more than 20 unforced errors (mostly in the first set) which complicated what should have been an easy victory. In the end, Gauff was nevertheless able to take the victory.
She was back on the training ground a few minutes later.
Djokovic encountered a similar problem in the next match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, facing a tough test from fellow Serbian Laslo Djere in a 6-4, 6-4, 2-0 victory.
Djere looked set to scare Djokovic for two straight hours, but he kept falling just short. Djokovic, who had trainers working on his torso at one point, saved three break points in the first set before making his own break to steal the first set.
Djere took the lead in the second set, but Djokovic responded with two consecutive breaks to take another set. Once he took a 2-0 lead in the third set, Djere retired from the match, having undergone knee surgery earlier this year.
In other big matches on the calendar, Americans Emma Navarro and Madison Keys both claimed three-set victories…