Tomljanovic cruises through to second round of US Open

Updated September 1, 2021 â€" 5.01amfirst published at 3.16am

Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic made light work of her first round US Open match against American Katie Volynets on Tuesday.

Tomljanovic cruised through 6-3, 6-1 to set up a date with 30th seed Petra Martić, of Croatia, in round two. Martić beat qualifier Dalma Gálfi in straight sets.

Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic cruised through her round one match against American Katie Volynets.Credit:Getty Images

World No.4 Karolina Pliskova fired off eight aces to defeat American wildcard Caty McNally 6-3, 6-4 as the Czech bids for an elusive maiden major.

Pliskova, the 2016 runner-up, built up a 5-1 lead in the first set before her 19-year-old opponent settled her nerves.

McNally, who made it to the third round at Flushing Meadows a year ago, bounced back to level the score at 3-3, but could not match Pliskova’s power as the Czech closed out the match with a pair of aces.

“I started really well then lost my focus a little bit at the end of the first set,” said Pliskova, who lost to world No.1 Ash Barty in the Wimbledon final earlier this year.

Britain’s teen sensation Emma Raducanu also advanced, beating Swiss Stefanie Vögele in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.

Emma Raducanu was a first round winner against Stefanie Vögele.Credit:Getty Images

Olympic gold medallist and Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic rolled past Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 in just 90 minutes.

In the men’s draw, Alexander Zverev opened his bid for a second US Open final appearance with a win. He needed only 1 hour, 40 minutes to beat Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

Zverev won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and is one of three players with four titles this season. The German knocked off top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Tokyo Games.

Belgian 27th seed David Goffin lost 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 to American world No.30 Mackenzie McDonald.

Russian 25th seed Karen Khachanov, meanwhile, was upset by South African Lloyd Harris 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz moved past Egor Gerasimov from Belarus with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win.

Elsewhere, Andy Murray launched a fresh rocket at his US Open conqueror Stefanos Tsitsipas, maintaining that the Greek player took too long for his first-round bathroom breaks.

The Briton was furious when Tsitsipas took a break that ran close to eight minutes during their five-set first-round clash on Monday.

The 2012 Flushing Meadows champion was still stewing a day later.

“Fact of the day. It takes Stefanos Tsitsipas twice as long to go the bathroom as it takes Jeff Bezos to fly into space. Interesting,” the 34-year-old Scot tweeted on Tuesday.

Tsitsipas had pointed out after the match that there are no time limits on bathroom breaks. “If there’s something that he has to tell me, we should speak the two of us to kind of understand what went wrong,” he said.

His incensed younger brother, Petros, responded to Murray’s broadside on Twitter: “Never expected this kind of behaviour, from a supposedly tennis legend!”

He will take on world number 44 Adrian Mannarino of France in the second round on Wednesday.

Reuters, AP

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