Despite the unbearable heat, all but two seeded players, No.24 Coco Vandeweghe and No.28 Anett Kontaveit, survived Tuesday’s first-round action at the US Open. Just how extreme the conditions in New York were was evidenced by the fact that seed No.29 Dominika Cibulkova had to change her shoes three times during her three-setter against Arantxa Rus.
Seed No.2 Caroline Wozniacki benefited from the shadows in Arthur Ashe Stadium in her triumph over Samantha Stosur, while last year’s runner-up Madison Keys, seeded 14th, enjoyed a 6-4 6-4 win over Pauline Parmentier in the evening.
Tenth seed Jelena Ostapenko was helped by the Extreme Heat Rule which allowed her to cool down a bit and return fresher to beat Andrea Petkovic.
The highlight of the day was the nostalgia-filled match between Maria Sharapova and Patty Schnyder. Seeds No.4 Angelique Kerber, No.5 Petra Kvitova, No.6 Caroline Garcia, No.11 Daria Kasatkina, No.13 Kiki Bertens, No.20 Naomi Osaka, No.26 Aryna Sabalenka, and No.30 Carla Suarez Navarro all moved into the second round on Tuesday.
Despite also being drained by the heat, our Jimmie48 covered most of these matches, and more!
MORE US OPEN 2018 PHOTOS:
- Monday, August 27th: Main-draw play kicks off with Stephens & the Williams sisters wins, No.1 Halep upset
- Sunday, August 26th: Cibulkova, Sharapova, Keys, Kvitova practice
- Saturday, August 25th: Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day with Kerber, Keys, Williams
- Friday, August 24th: Final round of WTA qualifying + Media Day
- Wednesday, August 22nd: First round of qualifying completes + Sharapova, Svitolina focus on practice
- Tuesday, August 21st: First round of qualifying + Kerber, Wozniacki, Keys practice sessions
I wanna see more in the women’s draw take off their tops to cool down or straighten out their uniforms…especially in this heat. Tell Garcia, Kvitová, Svitolina et al. to doff their tops at their convenience. No skin off my teeth.