All eyes were of course on Serena Williams on the opening day of the US Open on Monday, but in the shadow of Queen S, the leader of the Habs in New York Caroline Garcia kicked off her tournament perfectly with a quiet and logical victory against the 90th in the world, Kamilla Rakhimova (6-2, 6-4). “I was solid, but there were points where it could have been better. Tomorrow, I will try to work on that, also in relation to my next opponent and focus on my second round, ”commented the Habs who were full of confidence by winning the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati.
For her 10th US Open at 28, the 17th player in the world will face another Russian, Anna Kalinskaya (60th). She has never made it past the third round at Flushing Meadows, which is her least successful Grand Slam tournament yet.
In total, twelve French and seven French women were in contention during this first day. With Garcia, four other representatives of the nation have qualified. Arthur Rinderknech (58th) won the first Franco-French duel of this first round, dominating Quentin Halys (76th) in four sets. But he will have a lot to do in the next match, since the world number 1 and defending champion, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, will stand in front of him.
The nice surprise Hugo Grenier
The second duel between tricolors was won in five sets by Benjamin Bonzi (50th) at the expense of Ugo Humbert (138th and recipient of an invitation) 7-6 (7/1), 6-1, 5-7, 3 -6, 6-2. At 26, Bonzi is playing his first Major in New York and he will face Australian Nick Kyrgios (25th), Wimbledon finalist, in the next round.
The nice surprise came from Hugo Grenier (119th), drafted a few hours before the start of the tournament, and who seized his chance by eliminating the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry (86th). The next round promises to be much tougher with the formidable Italian Matteo Berrettini (14th) on the other side of the net. For his part, Corentin Moutet (112th) took advantage of the abandonment of Stan Wawrinka (295th) after the second set. The Frenchman was leading 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) when the 37-year-old Swiss, winner in 2016, threw in the towel.
Waiting for Gasquet, Paire and Cornet
If you are strong, you will have already calculated that seven tricolors took the door. Well seen. After creating the feat in the 1st round of Wimbledon by beating Serena Williams, Harmony Tan (112th) took a set from 2019 winner Bianca Andreescu (48th), but lost (6-0, 3-6, 6 -1). Léolia Jeanjean (149th), who had risen to the 3rd round at Roland-Garros, fought on the impressive Arthur-Ashe court but could not do anything against the equally impressive Coco Gauff (12th) who won 6-2, 6-3.
Still in the women’s category, Diane Parry (74th), despite winning the first set, was eliminated by the Chinese Xiyu Wang (75th), while Océane Dodin (98th) was logically dominated by the outgoing finalist Leylah Fernandez ( 14th). Finally, for his first US Open, Hugo Gaston (72nd) was clearly beaten by the Kazakh Alexander Bublik (47th), in three dry sets.
This Tuesday, Richard Gasquet, Benoît Paire and Alizé Cornet are entering the tournament.