NewzOpen's Sunday start gives some players a chance to get a nice head start. For Novak Djokovic, it turned into a stunning head start back to the airport.The 24-time Grand Slam champion was knocked out in the first round of the U.S. Open for the first time, beaten by Mariano Navone of Argentina 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.Djokovic was 19-0 in the U.S.
Open first round and hadn't lost his opening match in any major since the 2006 Australian Open.“It’s a good record, another one. But yeah, I’m not really thinking about it,” Djokovic said. “Of course, I’ve been very proud of all the achievements in the past, but now is now.”And now the No.
4 seed and four-time champion in Flushing Meadows looks every bit of his 39 years, vomiting and battling leg problems during a match that lasted more than 4 1/2 hours.“Now I have to recover,” Navone said. "It’s almost 12 o’clock.”It made for a lengthy first day of play, with Venus Williams and fellow wild card Sofia Kenin not getting on the court until past midnight — after their match was set to move to another stadium but the players decided to wait and keep it in the main venue.Nearly 12 hours earlier, third-seeded Jessica Pegula again experienced the benefits of the Sunday start that began last year.“It is a little bit weird, but I did kind of enjoy that I could breathe for the next couple of days and everyone else is still freaking out about whether they’re going to win their first round,” she said.Djokovic later experienced the downside.“We were just talking about it, and I said, it’s so nice to play on Sunday when you win. But if you lose it’s not nice, because you feel like the tournament didn’t even start and you’re out of it,” No.
11 seed Marta Kostyuk said.Pegula and Kostyuk both won easily and now the get the benefit of any extra day of rest before returning for the second round, where Pegula would play either Williams or Kenin.Pegula leads the women’s tour with 46 wins this season. She has two titles and has reached three other finals. 1 in the rankings if she wins her first major title and No.
2 Elena Rybakina loses before the semifinals.The No. 11-seeded Kostyuk beat Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-1 for a strong start to the year's final major after reaching the semifinals at the French Open and Wimbledon.A Sunday start but the champions don’t begin until MondaySome of the bigg… NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Pegula was one of the first players to compete at the U.S.
Open, and she learned last year that starting Sunday provided some nice relief.“It is a little bit weird, but I did kind of enjoy that I could breathe for the next couple of days and everyone else is still freaking out about whether they’re going to win their first round,” she said.The head start is great — unless it's a head start back to the airport.“We were just talking about it, and I said, it’s so nice to play on Sunday when you win. Djokovic, 39, most recently lost his opening match earlier this month at Cincinnati.The No. 3-seeded Pegula beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-2.
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