US Open Day 1 - Stan Starts Open Bid

He may have won the Australian Open back in January but in many ways Stanislas Wawrinka is still the forgotten man at the head of men’s tennis.

In the absence of Rafael Nadal, Wawrika, the Swiss number two, comes in to this year’s US Open as the third seed behind tournament favourites Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, as he looks build on a mixed year.

Wawrinka could be a real force over the next fortnight  

A semi-finalist last year, Wawrinka began this year’s competition with a straight sets victory over Czech Jiri Vesely, however his 6-2 7-6(6) 7-6(3) was further evidence of the Swiss’ contrasting form over the past twelve months.

For a set and a half Wawrinka’s stupendous ball striking from the back of the court epitomised that of a Grand Slam Champion. He broke Vesily in the second game of the match before dominating a one sided first set which was over in 25 minutes

However Vesely, currently just 21 years of age, wasn’t going to be despatched easily and capitalised on a number of Wawrinka lapses to force a second set tie break which he narrowly lost by  8 points to 6.

To Vesely’s credit another breaker was required to decide the third; Wawrinka still unable to reproduce the astounding tennis of the first set. However the Swiss spared the agony of a fourth set, taking a more convincing tie break by 7 points to 3 completing the match in 2 hours 15 minutes to set up a second round tie with Brazilian Tomaz Bellucci.

Elsewhere in the men’s draw eighth seed Andy Murray had to overcame a worrying cramp issue to beat Robin Haase 6-3 7-6(6) 1-6 7-5 and set up a second round match with German Matthias Bachinger.

There were comfortable straight sets wins for top seed Novak Djokovic over Diego Schwartzman and fifth seed Milos Raonic over Taro Daniel while Jo Wilfred Tsonga beat Juan Monaco in four sets.

On the women’s side the match of the day was contested by two of the oldest players in the draw as Venus Williams took on 43 year old Kimiko Date-Krumm. There was a potential early shock on the cards as Date-Krumm stormed into a set lead however it was the home favourite Williams who finally prevailed 2-6 6-3 6-3.

Second seed Simona Halep was also given a first round scare, dropping the first set to 20 year old American Danielle Rose Collins. However Halep, still yet to win a Grand Slam title, recovered to claim a 6-7(2) 6-1 6-2 victory.

There were more convincing wins for fifth seed Maria Sharapova who lost just four games to Russian compatriot Maria Kirilenko in a 6-4 6-0 victory and fourth seed  Agnieszka Radwanska who beat Sharon Fichman 6-1 6-0.