U.S. Open tennis: Gauff, Djokovic advance, Rune upset on Day 1

Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic were among the notable tennis stars to advance on Day 1 of the 2023 U.S. Open. No. 4 Holger Rune of Denmark and No. 8 Maria Sakkari of Greece were sent home after early upsets.

Gauff dropped her first set, but roared back for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 emotional victory Monday at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, N.Y. The 19-year-old American, who got into a heated exchange with the chair umpire Marijana Veljovic, fired seven aces, but converted just 5 of 14 break point opportunties in the win over No. 121 Laura Siegmund of Germany.

"I'm just happy I was able to overcome all of that," Gauff told reporters. "I wasn't playing my best tennis. Usually every Grand Slam you have one bad match. I'm able I was able to get that out of the way in the first round."

Gauff, the No. 6 player in the world, logged 34 winners and 34 winners. Siegmund totaled 37 winners, 36 unforced errors and converted 4 of 7 break point chances.

Her frustration boiled over in the third set of the victory, when she approached the umpire about Siegmund taking too long to serve and not being ready for Gauff's services.

"I was really patient the whole match," Gauff said. "She was going over the time since the first set and I never said anything. I would look at the umpire and she didn't do anything. Then the crowd started to notice. ... I was being nice. My team said I should've spoke up earlier."

Gauff will face No. 63 Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the second round.

No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland breezed into the second round with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over No. 86 Rebecca Peterson of Sweden. She converted 5 of 6 break point opportunties in that 58-minute match.

No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 15 Belinda Bencic of Sweden and No. 11 Petra Kvitova and No. 10 Karolina Muchova, both of the Czech Republic, were among the other top women's players to advance on Day 1 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Unseeded Rebeka Masarova of Spain, ranked No. 71, upset Sakkari 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round. She totaled four aces, converted 3 of 3 break points and logged 22 winners in the 87-minute match

Djokovic was the top men's player to advance on the first day of the final Grand Slam of the season. The No. 2-ranked Serbian beat No. 84 Alexandre Muller 6-0, 6-2, 6-3.

Djokovic, who was not allowed to play in the tournament last year because of COVID-19 travel rules, logged six aces, converted 8 of 14 break points and logged 32 winners in the 95-minute match.

"I knew it was going to be a late night for me," Djokovic said. "I was excited to go out on the court. I didn't care if I started after midnight. I was looking forward to this moment for a few years, to be out in the biggest and loudest stadium in our sport for a night session."

No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 5 Casper Ruud of Norway and Americans Taylor Fritz (No. 9), Frances Tiafoe (No. 10) and Tommy Paul (No. 14) were the other top men to win their first round matches on Day 1.

No. 63 Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain upset Rune in a 2-hour, 42-minute match on Court 5. The Spaniard totaled seven aces, converted 7 of 14 break points and logged 21 unforced errors in the 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph. Rune totaled two aces, converted 3 of 6 break points and logged 43 unforced errors.

No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 3 Daniil Medvedev of of Russia, No. 6 Jannik Sinner of Italy and Russians Andrey Rublev (No. 8) and Karen Khachanov (No. 11) will be among the top men in action Tuesday in Flushing.

No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States, No. 5 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, No. 7 Caroline Garcia of France, No. 9 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic will be the top women to play on Day 2 of the U.S. Open.

First-round coverage will air from noon to 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday on ESPN and from 7 to 11 p.m on ESPN and ESPN2.