US Open 2023: Gauff, Djokovic and Swiatek in action, Bencic beats Miyazaki – live | US Open Tennis 2023

Gauff breaks Andreeva for 6-3 5-2 and will now serve for the match…

Taylor Townsend beats Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6(1) 7-5!

Gauff is playing like she means it, attacking Andreeva whenever possible – and, as I type that, she runs around her backhand to punish a forehand winner down the line. At 6-3 4-2, it’s almost impossible to see her faltering.

Townsend is absolutely ‘avin it, breaking Haddad Maia to 15 and noising up herself and the partisan crowd in the royal manner. At 7-6 6-5, she’ll shortly serve for the match.

Now then. Mertens hangs in there to take the tiebreak 9-7, meaning she and Collins will play a decider.

Gauff saves a couple of break points, the first time she’s looked troubled in a while, then makes deuce on the Andreeva serve with a sensational winner from net to corner; Stricker sticks with Tsitsipas, leading 3-2 in the third, and Haddad Maia leads Townsend 5-4 in the second having lost the first.

…and goes long with a forehand cross-court! Mertens survives!

Collins retrieves a mini-break, scores one for herself … and burns a match point by hitting a backhand long. no matter, she raises another on her own serve…

Stricker saves two break points, but then Tsitsipas punishes a forehand winner down the line and leads 2-1 in the third. The music at change of ends is very odd behaviour, can we not bear 90 seconds with nothing obvious going on?

Absolute sake. Sky flick over to Collins v Mertens – they’re playing second-set tiebreak – so we miss Gauff breaking Andreeva for a 6-3 2-1 lead.

Gauff makes a great volley on the stretch for 1-1 in set two while Haddad Maia might’ve found herself in the nick of time, breaking Townsend back to trail 6-7 3-3.

Tsitsipas plays a really good tiebreak, taking it to two, and suddenly Stricker has some thinking to do. And on Armstrong, Collins is serving for a second-set breaker having taken the first against Mertens.

Belinda Bencic [15] beats Lily Miyazaki 6-3 6-3!

Time’s up? Tsitsipas nabs the mini-break, makes 3-1 with a booming ace, then a huge serve/forehand combo take him to within three points of levelling the match.

At 5-6 40-15, Stricker balloons a lefty forehand long, but another well-constructed point means it’s a breaker. On Ashe, though, no such luck for Andreeva, who’s playing well now … but so is Gauff, who takes the first set 6-3 after a purple patch that saw her move from 0-1 to 4-1.

I’m going to focus on Tistsipas 5-7 5-5 Stricker for a bit, though, as we’re at the business end of their second set … and Stricker wins a net exchange for 15-30. Tsitsipas, though, responds with a big serve … then another, closing out from there, and he looks rejuvenated. On 17, meantime, Townsend now leads Haddad Maia by a set and break, my excitement at seeing the latter looking like a bunch of arse, and my accumulator facing the same fate.

Bencic now leads Miyazaki 6-3 4-2; Andreeva is serving 2-5 down to Gauff; and Haddad Maia trails Townsend 6-7 1-1.

GB’s Henry Patten and Julian Cash have won their first-round men’s doubles match, beating William Blumberg and Steve Johnson 5 and 1. Why is this interesting, you may be thinking, but 1) Patten’s coach, Calv Betton, is our resident analyst and 2) It’s not every day your mate coaches his first win at a major.

After losing the opening game, Gauff has won four straight, and she’s a much better player than this time last year. She’s still got work to do on her forehand if she’s to win a major, but she looks like she believes, and with her talent, that’s a lot of the battle.

Great stuff from Stricker, breaking Tsitsipas back in some style for a 7-2 2-3 lead; he’s playing really solid. And so is Gauff, who takes advantage of a careless game from Andreeva and breaks to love, then secures her love-consolidation with a backhand winner cross-court.

Aha, we’re now allowed to watch Andreeva v Gauff on a main channel, Gauff leading 2-1 with a break.

While I was watching that, Gauff broke Andreeva back for 1-1, while Tsitsipas was busy breaking Sticker for 5-7 3-1.

Miyazaki is nearly gone, broken by Bencic in her first service game of set two, while Townsend takes her breaker with Haddad Maia, a fellow lefty, 7-1. And it reflects the play too – she hit 20 winners versus her opponent’s nine.

Andreeva and Gauff are away, the former raising break point in game one … and Gauff nets a backhand! Andreeva does not wait to be asked! Elsewhere, Townsend leads Haddad Maia 3-0 in their first-set breaker and Collins has broken Mertens again; I’ve not a clue why that match is on a main Sky channel but Andreeva v Gauff isn’t.

Tsitsipas has treatment of some sort but can’t take a timeout once he’s called for help and used of some of what he’s allotted; Mertens has broken Collins back in set two, so trails 3-6 2-2, and Coach Calv’s boys have won their first set 7-5.

On Ashe, Gauff and Andreeva are warming up – if Bencic takes this first set, I’ll switch from this to that – but Miyazaki is making a fight of it, narrowly missing with a forehand cross-court that would’ve given her two break-back points. From there, though, Bencic cleans up a netted forehand return securing her a 6-3 advantage.

Tsitsipas lashes a glorious forehand winner down the line but Stricker makes 40-30, slams a serve down the T, and clears up with a colossal forehand! He leads Tsitsipas 7-5!

A love hold for Miyazaki, but Bencic will now serve for the set at 5-3; Haddad Maia holds for 5-5, and Stricker is two points from set one at 30-15.

And how often do we see this?! I nip off for a comfort break, return, and Stricker has broken for 6-5! He’ll serve for the set presently.

How often have we seen this? With Stricker serving to stay in the set, Tsitsipas raises the first break point of it … which is quickly confiscated from him. Sticker then powers through deuce – well played him – while, on 17, haddad Maia is serving at 4-5.

Miyazaki, we learn, is a “data nerd” – she has a master’s in management of information technology, though she would’ve preferred to do maths, problem being it took longer. She holds again for 2-4.

Collins has, as the bookies expected, taken the first set off Collins 6-3 … and she’s just broken in game one of the second. Stricker, meanwhile, is pushing Tsitsipas, holding pretty easily – but at 4-5 he’ll now do so to stay in set one, which means a different kind of pressure.

When earlier, I said that Miiyazaki v Bencic was an interesting matchup, you may have assumed I was being parochial. But Bencic has proved remarkably adept at losing to opponents she should rinse, so I’m never confident backing her; she leads 3-1, Miyazaki having secured her first game in round two of a major.

I noticed that Mario Berrettini said this after beating Humbert yesterday:

I’m rediscovering my mechanisms, I’m recognising the situations I’ve experienced in the past even if it must be said that the years go by and now I’m a different person with more experience behind me, for good and in the bad.

It’s worth considering how much pain sportsfolk go through to entertain us, and how minging it must be to be in your prime and injured.

Haddad Maia and Townsend have both started well, and it’s 2-2 on serve, both knocking the cover off it; Tsitsipas leads Stricker 3-2 on serve.

Bencic, the Olympic champ, is one of those players I’ve almost never seen play well ad she makes 0-30 after holding, then guides a nice backhand down the line when Miyazaki rallies to 40-30 for deuce. And from there, she proceeds to break, a big forehand opening the court for the putaway.

I’ve been looking forward to seeking how Haddad Maia does here because I think she’s got the game for the court and seems to have hit a peak. She also beat Sloane Stephens, the 2017 champ, in round one, but Townsend is another tricky adversary.

OK, I’m watching Miyazaki v Bencic, Townsend v Haddad Maia and Tsitsipas v Stricker.

On Grandstad, we have play, Tsitsipas holding for 1-0 against Stricker.

Regular readers will be almost as grateful as I am for Calv Betton’s insights. Well, the lad he coaches, Henry Patten, is about to play round one with doubles with his partner, Julian Cash, so good luck to them.

Collins leads Mertens 2-1 on serve, while Miyazaki and Bencic are about to get going.

New York’s legalisation of marijuana hasn’t gone unnnoticed by the players. “The smell, oh my gosh,” said Maria Sakkari; “The grass smells good,” offered Alexander Zverev. “Like Snoop Dogg’s living room. It’s everywhere, the whole place smells like weed!”

Miyazaki and Bencic are out too, so I’d expect to see the courts fill up pretty quickly … with players at least, because Armstrong is pretty sparsely populated for now.

Unusually, Mertens is seeded – 32, admittedly – but Collins is favourite, and she opens with a love hold.

We’re almost ready on Armstrong, Mertens winning the toss and electing to receive. Outside, the weather looks decent.

So the crowd got on Siegmund’s back, and she was hurt by that.

Talking of Coco Gauff, there was some aggravation during her first-round match – she thought Laura Siegmund was taking too long between points.

Rain stops play (starting)

Preamble