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Tsitsipas cruises into US Open 2nd round; teenage phenom Gauff crashes out

New York, Aug 31 (efe-epa).- Greek rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas wasted little energy in a 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 rout Monday of Spaniard Albert Ramos-Viñolas in his opening match at the US Open, but American teenage phenom Cori Gauff stumbled at her first hurdle against Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.

The fourth-seeded Tsitsipas needed just one hour and 38 minutes to advance to the second round at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a giant facility that is completely devoid of fans for this year’s edition.

The 22-year-old Greek player was virtually untouchable on serve, striking 13 aces, winning 90 percent of his first-serve points and not facing a single break point.

Tsitsipas also completely dominated the action from the baseline, striking 38 winners to Ramos-Viñolas’ seven.

The Spaniard’s serve was a liability on Monday, as he did not hit a single ace and committed seven double faults.

“I had a clear picture of what I wanted to do out there,” Tsitsipas was quoted as saying on the ATP Tour’s website. “I was able to get my returns really deep, which gave me a psychological advantage in the match.”

Next up for the world No. 6 in the second round will be American Maxime Cressy, who defeated Slovakia’s Jozef Kovalik 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In other men’s singles action on Monday, fifth-seeded German Alexander Zverev got past a difficult first-round opponent, big-serving 2017 finalist Kevin Anderson, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 and 12th-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov topped American Sebastian Korda 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

But Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman, the No. 9 seed, was upset by the United Kingdom’s Cameron Norrie 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 in a match that featured a whopping 19 service breaks and 58 break points.

Norrie saved two match points in the fifth set before clinching victory in just under four hours.

In women’s singles, Gauff battled from a set down but dropped serve in the final game of the match in a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 defeat at the hands of the 31st-seeded Sevastova, a semifinalist at the US Open in 2018.

The 16-year-old American demonstrated her all-court game and mental toughness throughout the evenly matched contest, but she was unable to overcome her 13 double faults and 36 percent winning percentage on second-serve points.

In other women’s singles first-round action, top-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova cruised through with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, sixth-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova routed Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-2 and 2016 champion Angelique Kerber, the No. 17 seed, topped Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-4. EFE-EPA

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