4 players in top 10 lose on Tuesday to ease Nadal’s potential path to final
Rafael Nadal launched his tilt at a fourth US Open title on Tuesday with a swift defeat of John Millman as other leading seeds in his half of the draw tumbled out in the first round.
Four players in the world’s top 10 — Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Karen Khachanov and Roberto Bautista Agut — lost Tuesday to ease Nadal’s potential path to the final.
The Spanish second seed — US Open champion in 2010, 2013 and 2017 — needed barely two hours to see Millman off 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium with the world number 60 from Australia unable to reproduce the magic that saw him stun Roger Federer here a year ago.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Past US Open runners-up Kei Nishikori and Karolina Pliskova advanced to the third round of the Grand Slam event on a rainy day when most matches were delayed by showers.
Japanese seventh seed Nishikori, the 2014 US Open runner-up and a semi-finalist in 2016 and 2018, defeated 108th-ranked American Bradley Klahn 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 after two hours and 44 minutes.
“Looking forward to the next one,” Nishikori said. “Hopefully I can continue to play good tennis.”
Next in Nishikori’s path will be either Australian Alex de Minaur or Chilean 31st seed Cristian Garin.
Czech third seed Pliskova, seeking her first Grand Slam title and the world number one ranking, ousted 202nd-ranked Georgian qualifier Mariam Bolkvadze 6-1, 6-4 in 66 minutes.
“It was a solid performance,” Pliskova said. “I didn’t have to play the best today.”
She will next face either Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur or Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.
Earlier on Tuesday, two-time French Open runner-up Thiem was upset by Italian giant-killer Thomas Fabbiano 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, the Austrian fourth seed slumping to another first-round exit, having lost at the same stage at Wimbledon.
Greek eighth seed Tsitsipas struggled with cramps and accused umpires of having “preferences” after he fell to a 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 defeat by Next Gen rival Andrey Rublev in a gruelling four-hour slog.
Tsitsipas, for whom it was also a second successive Grand Slam opening-round defeat, was hit with a point penalty for a time violation in the final set.
Russian ninth seed Khachanov lost to Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in five sets, with 10th seed Bautista Agut of Spain succumbing in similar fashion to Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan to leave that quarter of the draw wide open for Nick Kyrgios.
The volatile Australian eased past American Steve Johnson 6-3, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 in a match that finished at 1:12 a.m. local time.
Alexander Zverev, seeded sixth, outlasted Moldova’s Radu Albot 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, while Marin Cilic, the 2014 champion, advanced in straight sets over Slovakia’s Martin Klizan.
Reigning women’s US Open champion Naomi Osaka confronted severe nerves as she overcame Russia's Anna Blinkova, the world number 84.
Osaka suffered a first-round exit last month at Wimbledon and the Japanese star struggled to put away Blinkova before prevailing 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.
The top seed goes on to face Poland’s Magda Linette.
Osaka must retain her US Open crown to have a chance of remaining world number one.
Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, ousted in the opening round the past two years at Flushing Meadows, beat US lucky loser Nicole Gibbs 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
“I feel much better that I could win a match finally in this tournament,” Halep said. “I feel like my game, it's there.”
Sloane Stephens, the 2017 champion, slid to a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Russian qualifier Anna Kalinskaya, while 15-year-old Wimbledon sensation Coco Gauff edged past Anastasia Potapova, 18, in three sets on her US Open debut.