U.S. Open serves off with different tales for men, women

https://guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Sharapova.jpg

Maria Sharapova is aiming for a triumphant return tom the U.S. Open… this year.

The first ball of the U.S. Open was served in the Arthur Ashe Stadium when Wimbledon Champion, Garbine Muguruza faced Petra Kvitova. The top seeded Karolina Pliskova would be playing her opening match in the night session, while her twin sister, Krystina would play against Misa Eguchi of Japan in the Day Session. In the men’s event, however, the last minute withdrawal of Andy Murray shook up a segment in the draw of the men’s event.

The match of the Night Session in Arthur Ashe Stadium would be the clash of Simona Halep with Maria Sharapova. The 2006 U.S. Open champion holds a 6-0 career head-to-head record against the Romanian.

However, the 15-month ITF suspension had thrown Sharapova way back in the rankings. Since she resumed in April and reached the semi-final in Stuttgart, she has been plagued with injuries. She retired in the second round in Rome and withdrew before the second round match in Stanford, Connecticut and pulled out of warm-up events in Toronto and Cincinnati. Halep has current playing form and her fitness would determine the outcome of a fateful match.

The last minute withdrawal of world number two, Andy Murray resulted in the reshuffling of the match-ups in the bottom half of the draw. Murray was already placed in the in the 132nd spot for second-seeds and was to face America’s Tennys Sandgren in the latter’s second appearance in Flushing Meadows main draw.

The Tournament Management followed laid down rules and brought the fifth seeded Marin Cilic to take Murray’s slot. This necessitated a juggling in the fourth quarter of the draw. Beneficiaries of the re-arrangement include Joe-Wilfred Tsonga, America’s Sam Querrey, and tournament contender Alexander Zverev.

The fourth-seeded German would be playing a history-making match against qualifier Darian King, the first player from Barbados to appear in the Arthur Ashe Stadium and the Grandslam.

Lukas Lacko, who lost in the final qualifying round, was picked as lucky loser and entered the main draw as the 132nd player.Murray won the tournament in 2012, suffered a hip injury in the finals of the French Open and lost to Stan Warwinka. In announcing his pull-out from the announcement on Saturday, Murray could not state when he hoped to return to the circuit.

The uncertain time of returning to the circuit has generated concerns. Murray is a veteran of many years at the top after making his debut in New York in 2005 and had not missed a year. He has featured in all the Grandslams for 12 years and skipped only the 2013 French Open on account of a back injury.

The veteran Venus Williams made her debut in 1997 and became the first unseeded player to reach the finals where she lost to Martina Hingis. 20 years later, she would be playing a first round match against 19-year old qualifier, Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia.