Top seed Alexander Zverev survives 5-set thriller to reach US Open second round

NEW YORK – Alexander Zverev scraped into the second round of the US Open on Sept 1, beating 89th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-4.

The top seed fought off a determined challenge from Sonego in a tense all-court battle spiced by unlikely retrievals, impossibly angled winners and some inexplicable errors, which wrapped up at Arthur Ashe Stadium after four hours and 53 minutes at 1.55am.

“I’m just happy I won; that’s it,” Zverev said. “Incredible battle, a lot of ups and downs – nearly five hours for a first round. I think it’s the longest first round match I ever played in my life. Credit to him, he played an incredible match.”

He added that it was just the kind of battle he needed after lacklustre performances in two hard-court tournaments coming into the Open.

The German had pocketed the first set without facing a break point. The pressure then built in the second set, Sonego earning his first break of the match for a 5-3 lead and serving it out to level the match.

Zverev looked frustrated first and then dejected as his errors piled up in the third set, which he surrendered with a double fault on Sonego’s second set point.

Sonego saved a pair of break points to open the fourth set and had saved three more in the fifth game before Zverev broke for 3-2 and later forced a decider.

After fending off a break point early in the fifth set, Zverev broke for a 3-2 lead – aided by two unforced errors and a double-fault from Sonego.

It was the opening Zverev needed. With the win, he avoided becoming the first men’s top seed in 23 years to fall in the first round of a Grand Slam, booking a second-round meeting with France’s Quentin Halys.

Home favourite Coco Gauff opened her campaign with a solid straight-set win over Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez that showcased her improved serve.

The fourth-seeded Gauff, who won the New York Grand Slam in 2023, was broken only once to top the 53rd-ranked Sonmez 6-3, 6-4 in a hard-hitting battle fought mostly from the baseline.

“It’s incredible to be back on this court,” an exuberant Gauff told the on-court interviewer. “I love playing in this atmosphere.”

Gauff, whose service woes in 2025 contributed to a fourth round exit, came into Flushing Meadows this time feeling much better about the stroke, having won the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati in August.

Gauff said she had made the toss more consistent under the tutelage of biomechanics expert Gavin Macmillan, who had previously helped Aryna Sabalenka retool her serve, improvements that helped the Belarusian rise to No. 1.

“It’s been a gradual change with the serve,” Gauff said. “Slowly, it’s adapting to maybe the way it should look.”

The American star blazed through the opening set without facing a break point, with Sonmez often unable to return Gauff’s serve or offering only a weak reply that could be batted off easily.

Gauff broke early in the second set, but the Turkish player raised the level of her game with heavy ground strokes and sneaky forays to the net to finish points with deft volleys.

Sonmez broke back for 2-2 and briefly took the lead.

But at 2-3, Gauff fought off multiple break points in a lengthy game that the American eventually nabbed with another big serve.

Gauff called the hold for 3-3 as “real important”.

“I like to challenge my opponent to let them keep up the level the whole match, and if they do, you know I clap my hands and I walk off court with my head held high,” Gauff said. “But I was able to settle down.”

Fellow Americans Madison Keys and Taylor Fritz also posted wins at Arthur Ashe Stadium earlier.

Fritz breezed to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over compatriot Darwin Blanch, but 2025 Australian Open champion Keys had to overcome first-match jitters to beat 19-year-old Russian Alina Korneeva 7-5, 6-4.

In a match that saw 10 breaks of serve, Keys squandered a match point in the penultimate game. But she won with a break in the next, fighting back from 15-40 down.

“It’s always tough playing someone young and up and coming and they’re going for their shots,” Keys said.

“And it’s so hard to play the first round of a Grand Slam,” added the American, who crashed out in the first round at Flushing Meadows in 2025. “(You’re) so nervous and wanting to do well.”

Jubilant Monfils celebrates birthday in style, Rybakina races through

Over at Louis Armstrong Stadium, birthday boy Gael Monfils of France turned back the clock for a comeback 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 win over Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay.

Monfils, who will retire after this season, played with his trademark showmanship, offering exaggerated bows after embellishing a putaway shot in the fourth set with a leap in the air.

Evidence of approval came when the crowd joined an impromptu performance of Happy Birthday after the match. “You guys always make it electric, amazing,” he said on court. “Let’s keep it going for the second one.”

This is Monfils’ 18th appearance at the US Open. His best showing came in 2016 when he reached the semi-finals and lost to Novak Djokovic.

Earlier, men’s fifth seed Flavio Cobolli also shook off an erratic start to triumph 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 over Francisco Comesana of Argentina after a four-hour, 13-minute marathon.

“In a Grand Slam, it’s never done,” Cobolli of Italy said. “You have to fight to the last point.”

Cobolli rallied from an early break in the fifth set, breaking back to pull level, breaking again for a 5-4 lead and sealing the triumph in the next game with a blistering forehand volley.

The Roland Garros runner-up had been flailing in the first two sets against his 119th-ranked opponent, but he seemed to have turned a corner when he broke Comesana with a powerful forehand for a 3-1 lead in the third.

“After two sets down I went to the toilet and I changed everything because maybe (it was) unlucky,” he said. “So I changed everything – and maybe it works.”

Cobolli saved all eight break points he faced in the third set, including two in the final game, and roared to a 4-0 lead on the way to taking the fourth.

Meanwhile, players scheduled on outside courts waited through rain that delayed the start of play for almost four hours.

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, whose Grandstand court match was one of those delayed by rain, raced past 17-year-old US wild card Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-2.

Rybakina, who claimed her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, is chasing not only a third but also Aryna Sabalenka’s world No. 1 ranking.

She showed no sign of the heel injury that forced her to retire from her quarter-final in Cincinnati in August, saving the only two break points she faced and breaking Frodin three times.

“We will see day by day,” Rybakina said of the injury. “I’m glad I played the match, won the match. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.” AFP