If an almost 24 hours delay and rain-interrupted match took a toll on Alex de Minaur he certainly didn\u2019t show it on the court \u2013 cruising through his opening US Open clash in straight sets.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Australian was due to take on Andrea Guerrieri on Wednesday morning (AEST) but the match was rescheduled to Thursday morning due to scheduling chaos caused by consistent rain in New York. <\/p>\n
He was originally due to play on one of the main courts The Grandstand but the rain and rescheduling meant he played on Court 11. The Stan Sports stream of the game didn\u2019t even have commentary. <\/p>\n
De Minaur broke Guerrieri in the opening game of the first set \u2013 going on to close it out 6-2.<\/p>\n
He was up 4-2 in the second set when rain left the chair umpire with no choice but to suspend play. <\/p>\n
Finally the clouds parted and de Minaur, ranked 7th in the world, and grand slam debutant Guerrieri could re-take the court.<\/p>\n
The break didn\u2019t mess with de Minaur\u2019s rhythm and he quickly closed out the second set 6-2. <\/p>\n
De Minaur stumbled in the third set giving up his first break point but managed to regain his composure and get the break back. <\/p>\n
He then held his serve to take the final set 6-4 and progress to the second round of the US Open. <\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t get the win but rising Australian tennis player Maya Joint can certainly hold her head high after a career best performance against world No. 9 Elina Svitolina. <\/p>\n
Going into the game the 20-year-old had never taken a set off a top 10 ranked player. <\/p>\n
Joint certainly looked out of touch with the Ukrainian in the opening set going down 6-2.<\/p>\n
But in the second set Joint showed why many experts have her pegged as a future star. <\/p>\n
It was an epic battle with Joint surging ahead to 5-3. <\/p>\n
But Svitolina wasn\u2019t going to hand the set over, levelling the set at five games a piece before taking the lead. <\/p>\n
Pressure was on Joint to hold her serve and despite a little scare after a double fault Joint managed to do just that, sending the set to a tie break. <\/p>\n
There were some epic rallies, powerful winners and clever tactics from both players but Joint managed to dig deep, save a match point and take the tie break 8-6. <\/p>\n
Svitolina fired back up in the third set. Joint worked tirelessly to keep herself in the fight \u2013 even clinching back a break. <\/p>\n
Joint refused to give up, saving four match points with some unseen aces and a clever drop shot. <\/p>\n
Svitolina then had the opportunity to serve out the match \u2013 which she did swiftly \u2013 taking the set 6-4 and booking herself a ticket to the third round. <\/p>\n
Fellow Australia Kim Birrell also tried to put an almighty fight against Ekaterina Alexandrova but it just wasn\u2019t enough to keep her in the tournament. <\/p>\n
Birrell, 28, got off to a rocky start losing the first set to the 18th seed 6-1. <\/p>\n
The Gold Coast resident staged a comeback in the second, winning 6-2, sending the game to a third set. <\/p>\n
Alexandrova got an early break in the third set. Birrell dug deep and had Alexandrova visibly frustrated \u2013 she even smashed a racquet into the court. <\/p>\n
Birrell had a chance to get the break back in the third but just couldn\u2019t deliver and Alexandrova went on to take the final set 6-3. <\/p>\n
It was the first time Birrell has reached the second round of the grand slam tournament. <\/p>\n
The Australian\u2019s continued to fall with James Duckworth crumbling in his second round outing against 113th ranked Wu Yibing.<\/p>\n
Duckworth, 34, managed to match it with Wu in the opening set eventually losing 5-7. <\/p>\n
But the Australian just couldn\u2019t get into the swing of it with eight double faults. In the second set, which he lost 6-3, Duckworth had 11 unforced errors to Wu\u2019s two. <\/p>\n
Wu closed out the match 7-5 6-3 6-1. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If an almost 24 hours delay and rain-interrupted match took a toll on Alex de Minaur he 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