The beauty of the US Open is that at the same moment, a young player like J.J. Wolf can be making a name for himself while just a few steps away one of the most well-known players can be reminding us just how good he is.
While Wolf was pulling off his upset, former world number one Andy Murray was dispatching 24th-ranked Fernando Cerundolo in straight sets 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. The 35-year-old Murray didn’t hit many winners, just 25, but forced long rallies and saw Cerundolo make a whopping 50 unforced errors.
“I managed to defend pretty well today,” Murray said after the match. “I think I moved pretty well today. I don’t think, you know, it was that easy for him to get the ball by me, and he’s a big hitter of the ball. He has a big forehand.”
That ability to read the court and intercept the angles has been huge for Murray as he has gotten older and his movement has lessened a bit.
“I think [reading the court] has always been, yeah, a strength of my game and something that, yeah, I have always been able to rely upon. I mean, I don’t read every single shot, but once you start to play more matches, get a bit more comfortable with your movement, you know, which I do feel like now I’m moving a lot better than I was at this time last year, I’ve got more matches under my belt, so I’m starting to see things a little bit easier on the match court, that, you know, when you combine the two, it makes quite a big difference to my movement.”
It’s certainly not vintage Murray, but the win over a seeded player immediately changes the outlook at the US Open for the Brit. “I mean, essentially I take his spot in the draw now,” explained Murray. “I mean, that’s what you have to do if you’re unseeded is get through some seeds.”
American Wild Card Emilio Nava Advances to Face Murray
That new draw for Murray means that his second-round matchup will be against American wild card Emilio Nava.
Like J.J. Wolf, Nava was not ranked high enough to automatically qualify for the tournament. However, unlike Wolf, Nava wasn’t actually particularly close. The 20-year-old was ranked 203rd heading into the 2022 US Open but has played well of late, going 6-4 in the hard court circuit before surviving a five-set battle against Australian John Millman 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 6-1.
“It doesn’t get much better than winning a Grand Slam match at home,” admitted Nava after the match. “It feels amazing. I’m super happy I came away with the win. He’s a tough opponent. He can run for miles and miles and days and days. I just maintained and came away with the win.”
Nava knows a thing or two about running for miles since his parents were both Olympic track athletes representing Mexico and met back at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. But Nava ultimately decided to transition from track and field to tennis, and the move has paid off.
“I think I’d put that number one [biggest win of my career]. Highest-ranked opponent I’ve ever beaten, at a Grand Slam, at home, five sets. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Except that it can if he’s able to pull off the upset of Murray on Wednesday.
“I’m just gonna go out there and have fun.”
Coco Gauff Cruises Into the Second Round
For all of the impressive wins in Coco Gauff’s young career, the US Open is one tournament that she has yet to get the hang of. So far, it is the only Grand Slam that she has yet to reach the second week of.
But Gauff is playing tremendous tennis this year, even reaching the finals of the French Open before falling to world number one Iga Swiatek. She continued that strong play on Monday, defeating France’s Leolia Jeanjean 6-2, 6-3. Gauff hit 34 winners on the day, which was 31% of her shots, good for the most of any woman on the day as of this reporting. However, she was only able to get in 59% of his first serves, which will need to improve as she advances.
Simona Halep Upset in First Round
But Gauff’s draw got a little bit easier as 7th-ranked Simona Halep lost her first-round match against 20-year-old Ukrainian Daria Snigur. In fact, it was Snigur’s first career win on the WTA Tour.
Halep had won 19 of her last 22 matches to help get her back inside the top 10, and many people were pegging her as a possible tournament champion. However, the Ukrainian qualifier was apparently not one of them, as she knocked off the former world number one 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
“This match was for Ukraine, for my family, for all fans who supported me. I want to say thank you all,” said Snigur after the win.
Simona Halep would have been set up to face Coco Gauff in the round of 16, but the young American will need to overcome a few other challenges before she can even think of planning that far ahead.
Tommy Paul Survives Early Scare
Elsewhere, American Tommy Paul, the 29th-seed, needed five sets to beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0, 7-5. Paul hit 67% of his first serves and 39 winners, but his 59 unforced errors. Paul has been hit-and-miss in the tune-up tournaments to the US Open, losing in the 2nd round in the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati and the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 Canada.
Paul will advance to the second round to take on fellow American Sebastian Korda, who advanced 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-1 over 105th-ranked Argentinian Facundo Bagnis.
30th-seeded American Maxime Cressy Forced to Withdraw
Unfortunately, the news was not as good for 25-year-old Maxime Cressy. The American was coming into the US Open as a seeded player and hoping to make a deep run in the tournament, but he was forced to retire in the middle of the 3rd set, trailing Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 5-1.
While it’s unclear at this time what happened to Cressy, there was a clear swing near the end of the second set. After taking the opening set, Cressy was serving for the second set up 5-4 and 30-0 in that 10th game. However, a key double fault would allow Fucsovics to get the break, and Cressy would win only one of the next eight games before withdrawing from the tournament.
For more coverage of the 2022 US Open, visit amNY Sports
