Zverev struggles but advances at Flushing Meadows

German second seed Alexander Zverev struggled to reach the second round of the Flushing Meadows tennis tournament, defeating Italian Lorenzo Sonego, ranked 89th, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, and 6-4, while Kazakh Elena Rybakina and American Coco Gauff advanced with ease.

After winning his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in June and reaching the Wimbledon final in July, the 29-year-old German enters the tournament as the top seed in the draw, following the withdrawal of Italian Jannik Sinner due to a right knee injury.

World number six and last Roland Garros runner-up Flavio Cobolli narrowly avoided an early exit, overcoming Argentine Francisco Comesaña (ranked 119th) in a marathon match. After 4 hours and 13 minutes of competition, the higher-ranked player won 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and 6-4.

Meanwhile, world number two Rybakina advanced easily to the second round, defeating 17-year-old American qualifier Thia Froiden 6-3 and 6-2. The winner of this year’s Australian Open and 2022 Wimbledon did not appear physically affected by Froiden’s presence, despite recently withdrawing from the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters (a 1000-point event) due to pain in her left foot. She was seen wearing a large bandage extending up to her left calf.

Rybakina will face Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in her next match. If she reaches the semifinals, she will overtake Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the champion of the last two editions of the tournament, to claim the world number one ranking for the first time in her professional career.

Like Rybakina, American Coco Gauff, ranked fourth and the 2023 champion, found it easy to reach the second round for the sixth consecutive time, defeating Turkey’s Zeynep Sönmez 6-3 and 6-4.

Russian Roland Garros champion Mira Andreeva also advanced easily to the same round, defeating Indonesian Janice Tjen, ranked 36th, 6-2 and 6-2.

American Madison Keys, ranked 22nd, reached the second round as well, defeating Russian Alina Kornieva 7-5 and 6-4.