At the grass tournament in Wimbledon, Tatjana Maria had a wondrous winning streak all the way to the semifinals, but the German cannot repeat that at the US Open – and fails in the first round of the last tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year. Old master Andy Murray, on the other hand, starts strong.
Tennis player Tatjana Maria missed the start of the US Open in the second round. The Wimbledon semi-finalist lost 4-6, 6-3, 0-6 to Greek world number three Maria Sakkari on Monday. Maria, 35, has never made it past the second round in nine starts in New York, having been eliminated in the first round of qualifying last year. In the next round Sakkari meets the winner of the duel Diane Parry from France against the Chinese Wang Xiyu.
Maria was the only German player on the opening day. On Tuesday, seven German professionals will take part, including Andrea Petkovic against the Swiss Olympic champion Belinda Bencic. The 34-year-old Petkovic announced her resignation in the ARD “Sportschau” on Sunday, saying that the US Open was generally her “last tournament”.
For Maria it was the third Grand Slam duel this year against Sakkari. In her completely surprising semi-finals on grass in Wimbledon, Maria had prevailed in the third round, at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year the Greek won the opening match. At the US Open in New York, as in Melbourne, hard courts are played.
In the men’s competition, defending champion Daniil Medvedev did not show any weaknesses at the start. The world number one from Russia won his first game against the American Stefan Kozlov 6:2, 6:4, 6:0. In the second round, Medvedev meets Arthur Rinderknech, who prevailed in the French duel against compatriot Quentin Halys.
Unlike recently in Wimbledon, Medvedev is allowed to take part in the US Open because the organizers give Russian and Belarusian tennis players the right to start. They were denied this at Wimbledon due to the Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine. British tennis star Andy Murray also went one round further. The three-time Grand Slam tournament winner defeated Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo in three sets 7: 5, 6: 3, 6: 3. It is the 16th participation of the former world number one at the US Open.
