2 months ago
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NEW YORK (AP):
TOP-RANKED IGA Swiatek fought through a tough first-round match at the US Open yesterday, while two-time champion Naomi Osaka made an impressive return to the tournament by beating number 10 Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2.
Osaka, the 2018 and 2020 champion at Flushing Meadows, needed only 64 minutes to oust Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion. It was the kind of performance that was standard from Osaka when she reached number one in the rankings and won four Grand Slam titles from 2018-21.
But she had missed large gaps of time since, first for mental health breaks and then after giving birth, and just this month posted on social media about the struggles of not playing as well as she used to after failing to qualify for the tournament in Cincinnati.
She smashed 19 winners against only five unforced errors yesterday.
Swiatek had a more difficult time, edging Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4, 7-6 (6). The 2022 champion was one point away from being forced to a third set when Rakhimova took a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker. But Swiatek recovered and won the next five points, finishing the match when her opponent missed a backhand.
Swiatek improved to 22-1 in first-round matches at Grand Slams, including 6-0 at the US Open.
Danielle Collins’ singles career at Grand Slams ended when the number-11 seed was upset by fellow American Caroline Dolehide 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. Collins, 30, has announced she plans to retire at the end of the season. She is still entered in doubles at Flushing Meadows.
Failed drug tests
Jannik Sinner, the number-one seed on the men’s side, followed Swiatek onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for his opening-round match. It was his first action since word emerged that he had failed two drug tests in March but escaped suspension.
After a sloppy and slow opening set, Sinner pulled away for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 victory against Mackie McDonald of the United States to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows.
There were no apparent signs in the stands or disparaging shouts making reference to what no one knew about for months: Sinner tested positive twice for trace amounts of the anabolic steroid Clostebol in an eight-day span in March.
Nothing was announced publicly until last week, when word came that the 23-year-old Italian was docked prize money and ranking points from the tournament where the first result appeared, but he escaped a suspension because it was ruled he was not at fault and the drug entered his system unintentionally, through a massage from his physiotherapist.
In his first public comments on the matter, at a pre-tournament news conference Friday, Sinner said he had fired the fitness trainer who bought an over-the-counter spray containing Clostebol in Italy and the physiotherapist who used it for a cut on his finger before treating the player and transferring the substance to his body.
During a brief on-court interview in Ashe, Sinner wasn’t asked about the case, which has drawn some criticism from other players, including Novak Djokovic, about the way it was handled and questions about whether certain athletes are treated differently than others when it comes to the process for determining punishments related to doping.
Number-11 Stefanos Tsitsipas and number-19 Felix Auger-Aliassime were both knocked out in the first round, while number-seven Hubert Hurkacz and number-25 Jack Draper were among the men’s winners.
English (US) ·