US Open: Gritty De Minaur battles through to third round

Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 10 seed, beat Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (3) to move into the third round of the US Open in New York on Thursday.

The Aussie struggled early on, falling behind 5-2 in the opening set. He dug his heels in though and managed to win five games in a row to claim the set.

Having recently come back from a hip injury suffered at Wimbledon, De Minaur was evidently below his best against Virtanen. However, he still managed to keep his error count low, making just 19 to his opponent’s 53. This, combined with some strong returning (47 percent of receiving points won), helped the No 10 seed edge his way into the third round.

De Minaur will face Great Britain’s Dan Evans next.

Ahead of his victory, the Australian edged out American Marcos Giron (6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4).

Virtanen, ranked No 125, won against French qualifier Quentin Halys (6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2) in the previous round of the US Open.

New York (Grand Slam), other second-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 75.000.000, most recent results first):

• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Botic van de Zandschulp
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Max Purcell vs. Tommy Paul
• Mariano Navone vs. Daniel Evans: thursday
• Tristan Schoolkate vs. Jakub Mensik: thursday
• Arthur Fils vs. Gabriel Diallo: thursday
• Flavio Cobolli vs. Zizou Bergs: thursday
• Jack Draper (25) beat Facundo Diaz Acosta: 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• David Goffin vs. Adrian Mannarino: thursday
• Nuno Borges beat Thanasi Kokkinakis: 6-4, 7-5, 7-5
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Alex Michelsen: 6-4, 6-0, 6-2
• Jordan Thompson beat Hubert Hurkacz (7): 7-6 (2), 6-1, 7-5
• Matteo Arnaldi (30) beat Roman Safiullin: 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
• Tomas Machac beat Sebastian Korda (16): 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
• Christopher O’Connell beat Mattia Bellucci (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Laslo Djere: 6-4, 6-4, 2-0 ret.
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Matteo Berrettini: 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-1
• Casper Ruud (8) beat Gael Monfils: 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (3)
• Lorenzo Musetti (18) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
• Ben Shelton (13) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Alexei Popyrin (28) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-2, 6-4, 6-0
• Juncheng Shang beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Francisco Comesana beat Ugo Humbert (17): 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 4-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (20) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-4, 6-1, 1-0 ret.
• Alexander Zverev (4) beat Alexandre Muller (WC): 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1
• Brandon Nakashima beat Arthur Cazaux: 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Sebastian Baez (21): 6-1, 2-0 ret.
• Grigor Dimitrov (9) beat Rinky Hijikata: 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (4)
• Jiri Lehecka (32) beat Mitchell Krueger (Q): 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Francisco Cerundolo (29): 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3