US Open(ing Day)

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

And welcome to the mighty US Open. The Aussie has said its g'days and its later alligator, while the French, too, has bid us Au revoir. Wimbledon hath bidden us good day. We now arrive at the US Open, the final slam and second hard-court slam of the year unless, of course, you are from Indian Wells, in which case this is the third and final hard-court slam of the year because Indian Wells is a pretty big tournament. The first day has gone by and it has concerned the bottom half of the draw.

Fernando Verdasco seeded 27th fell, as did 30th seed Ernests Gulbis. There was an even bigger scalp, however, which will be mentioned later. Anyway, with a lot of awards up for grabs, let's get this US Open under way.


BLOCKBUSTER BUST-UP: Tomic d. Ramos
...With Australia facing Spain in the opening round, it looked as if Tomic would go through fairly straightforwardly because surely Ramos would not be up to much off the dirt. And at first it proved to be, as Tomic raced to 4-0 before being pulled back, but then ultimately closed it out 6-3. The next two, Ramos took 6-3, 6-4 to take a two sets to one lead. He even had a break lead throughout that set but was broken serving for the match. He was dragged into a breaker which ultimately did not go his way. After that, Tomic closed it out 6-3 in the fifth after just short of 4 hours of play. The rallies were lengthy, but versatile, too, with a lot of slice, drop shots and even lobs thrown in. Tomic had 61 unforced errors whilst his opponent had 64 and he also had 54 winners -- 9 more than his opponents. After winning a high quality affair, Tomic goes through to face Evans of Great Britain.
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ROSOL MOMENT: Dan Evans , GBR
...I know nothing about Evans, to be honest. I can tell you that according to his bio he was born in Birmingham on the 22nd of May 1990. I can tell you he is a righty. Kei Nishikori was having a bad day and Ward happened to be having a very good day and it showed. He hit more than double the Japanese man's aces, with 8 of them. Kei also hit twice as many doubles with 8. Winners and unforced errors were about the same. It seems that it was on serve that this match was lost. Dan had the fastest serve and faster averages, too, by a fair bit. He also won 51 per cent of 2nd serve points while his opponent managed just 38 per cent. He broke 6 times to his opponent's twice and snuffed him out relatively easily 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in under two hours and will now play Tomic.
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ISNER-MAHUT WANNABE'S: Kuznetsov/Sela, RUS/ISR
...In exactly one minute shy of four hours, Sela beat Kuznetsov 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 5-7, 6-4. According to the USO website, Kuznetsov hit 8 winners and his opponent just 2. However, Kuznetsov hit 8 unforced errors and his opponent just 7. They played 370 points. Throw in the fact that Kuznetsov had 8 doubles and aces, and his opponent 7 doubles and 2 aces, where's the other 330 or so points? Kuznetsov won 183 points, but it is still a bizarre occurrence to only hit 2 winners during a four-hour five-setter. It is an enigma wrapped in a question wrapped in a tennis ball.
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BLINK AND YOU MISS IT: Bautista-Agut/Bellucci, ESP/BRA
...It took the Spaniard an hour and 40 minutes to dismiss Bellucci 6-3,6-2,6-2. He hit only one ace but also only one double. Bellucci hit 2 doubles and 7 aces. Bellucci also hit 7 winners whilst Agut hit just 1. Bellucci hit two errors, twice the amount Agut hit. Another bizarre match where Bellucci broke just once, but his opponent did so 6 times. It was another odd match, and also a continuation on the Brazilian's slump.
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ELVIS AWARD: Andreas Haider-Maurer, AUT
...Gulbis led 6-3,3-6,6-1 before HM came back and took the next two sets. It took 71 minutes for him to win the fourth set 7-6, and then 44 minutes to win the last set 6-4. In the match, Gulbis hit 15 winners to the Austrian's ten and had four less unforced errors, too. Gulbis won 159 points, which was one less than his opponent. Just one. This is a bit of an upset and it looked as if Gulbis was going to make a run here, but he choked in this match and was one of the first seeds to fall.
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HOME GROWN HERO: Vacant , USA
...Some American men lost, but none won. My apologies. Perhaps McEnroe for being a great commentator?
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