IMAGES from Day 1 of the US Open at Flushing Meadows, New York, United States, on Monday.
Defending champion Coco Gauff overcame early nerves to cruise by France's Varvara Gracheva 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the US Open on Monday.
Gauff was popular as ever with her home crowd as she sent 10 aces over on Arthur Ashe Stadium, showing her determination to put a string of frustrating performances behind her in New York.
Gauff suffered early exits at tune-up tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto and there were early signs of trouble as she had five double faults in the first set.
She had to fend off three break points to hold her serve in the second game but the world number three found her footing from there, breaking her opponent's serve in the third and seventh games.
Gracheva was never able to match Gauff's firepower, with 25 unforced errors and just five winners, as the American ploughed through the second set in 27 minutes.
Gauff exclaimed with frustration as she hit the ball out of bounds to give her opponent a break point chance in the final game, but got back on track with a pair of aces before her opponent handed her the match with an error on the final point.
Zheng passes Anisimova test in opener
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen overcame early serving woes to move into the second round of the US Open with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over American wildcard Amanda Anisimova.
Seventh seed Zheng, a quarter-finalist in New York last year, won 73% of her first-serve points and converted six of her 11 break-point chances during a two hour 20-minute match at Louis Armstrong Stadium where she was broken four times.
Anisimova raced out to a 5-1 double break lead in the first set but then had to dig deep as Zheng broke back at love, turned aside three set points on her next serve and then broke again to get the match back on serve.
But Anisimova, having twice failed to serve out the set, found another way as she broke a misfiring Zheng for a third time to grab the first frame.
In the second set, Zheng suddenly looked more comfortable from the line, including during a four-ace game to reach 2-2 before she broke in the next game to put Anisimova on the back foot and then leaned on her serve to close out the frame.
Zheng jumped out to a double break 3-0 lead in the decider while Anisimova, who had her left foot tended to before the set and at one point winced after a shot due to discomfort in her right hand, was unable to find her way back.
Up next for Zheng will be a clash with Russia's Erika Andreeva.
Svitolina fights back to advance; Sakkari retires
Earlier, Ukraine 27th seed Elina Svitolina, a semi-finalist in 2019, advanced to the second round with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina while Russian 12th seed Daria Kasatkina eased into the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Romania's Jaqueline Cristian.
Greek ninth seed Maria Sakkari retired due to injury after losing the first set 6-2 to China's Yafan Wang in their first-round match.
Wang broke serve in the opening game and raced into a 5-1 lead. Sakkari needed a medical timeout to treat her shoulder and was unable to continue.
