US Open: Dimitrov saves MPs, wins longest match of the tournament so far

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 19 seed, advanced to the second round of the US Open by overhauling Slovak Alex Molcan 6-7 (9), 6-7 (5), 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (9) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Tuesday evening.

After dropping two tight opening sets which both went to tiebreakers, former world No 3 Dimitrov roared back into the match with a 6-1 third set. However, Molcan turned the screws to make the final two sets as tight as possible, with Dimitrov needing to hit 81 winners to overcome his Slovakian opponent.

It was a match that had it all, with Dimitrov fending off two match points, and falling behind 5-2 in the fifth at one stage.

With the win, Dimitrov, ranked No 19, sets a mouth-watering encounter against Andy Murray in the second-round, who won his 200th Grand Slam match earlier today.

New York (Grand Slam), other first-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44.700.000, most recent results first):

• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Dominik Koepfer
• Yannick Hanfmann vs. Jannik Sinner
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Otto Virtanen
• Lloyd Harris vs. Guido Pella
• Taro Daniel vs. Gael Monfils
• Marc-Andrea Huesler vs. Hubert Hurkacz: tuesday
• Stan Wawrinka vs. Yoshihito Nishioka: tuesday
• Yibing Wu vs. Dusan Lajovic: tuesday
• Nicolas Moreno De Alboran vs. Lorenzo Sonego: tuesday
• Daniel Elahi Galan vs. Daniel Evans: tuesday
• Timofey Skatov vs. Alex De Minaur: tuesday
• Botic van de Zandschulp beat Jordan Thompson: 6-3 ret.
• Radu Albot vs. Jack Draper: tuesday
• John Isner (WC) beat Facundo Diaz Acosta: 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Andrey Rublev (8) beat Arthur Cazaux (LL): 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1
• Sebastian Baez beat Borna Coric (27): 7-5, 7-5, 6-1
• Andy Murray beat Corentin Moutet: 6-2, 7-5, 6-3
• Yu Hsiou Hsu (Q) beat Thanasi Kokkinakis: 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Cameron Norrie (16) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
• Daniel Altmaier beat Constant Lestienne: 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1, 6-2
• Alex Michelsen (WC) beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
• Michael Mmoh (WC) beat Karen Khachanov (11): 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
• Daniil Medvedev (3) beat Attila Balazs: 6-1, 6-1, 6-0
• Alexander Zverev (12) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Diego Schwartzman: 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Matteo Berrettini beat Ugo Humbert (29): 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Nicolas Jarry (23) beat Luca Van Assche: 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3)
• Felipe Meligeni Alves (Q) beat James Duckworth (LL): 6-4, 7-6 (11), 6-3
• Christopher O’Connell beat Max Purcell: 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Jason Kubler: 6-3, 1-0 ret.
• Arthur Fils beat Tallon Griekspoor (24): 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Alexandre Muller: 6-0, 6-2, 6-3
• Borna Gojo (Q) beat Hugo Dellien: 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) beat Milos Raonic: 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
• Hugo Gaston (Q) beat Sho Shimabukuro (Q): 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (4)
• Dominic Stricker (Q) beat Alexei Popyrin: 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Benjamin Bonzi (WC) beat Quentin Halys: 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Roman Safiullin beat Marco Cecchinato: 6-4, 6-2, 6-0
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (15): 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Christopher Eubanks (28) beat SoonWoo Kwon: 6-3, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles beat Ethan Quinn (WC): 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
• Aslan Karatsev beat Jiri Lehecka: 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
• Tommy Paul (14) beat Stefano Travaglia (Q): 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
• Taylor Fritz (9) beat Steve Johnson (WC): 6-2, 6-1, 6-2
• Jiri Vesely beat Enzo Couacaud (Q): 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
• Titouan Droguet (Q) beat Lorenzo Musetti (18): 6-3, 0-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2
• Francisco Cerundolo (20) beat Zachary Svajda (Q): 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
• Juan Pablo Varillas beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 1-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4
• Marton Fucsovics beat Sebastian Korda (31): 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4
• Laslo Djere (32) beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
• Rinky Hijikata (WC) beat Pavel Kotov: 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
• Jakub Mensik (Q) beat Gregoire Barrere: 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (10) beat Learner Tien (WC): 6-2, 7-5, 6-1
• Casper Ruud (5) beat Emilio Nava (Q): 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Holger Rune (4): 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (21) beat Marcos Giron: 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
• Dominic Thiem beat Alexander Bublik (25): 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
• Ben Shelton beat Pedro Cachin: 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
• Juan Manuel Cerundolo beat Ilya Ivashka: 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
• Sebastian Ofner beat Nuno Borges: 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4
• Fabian Marozsan beat Richard Gasquet: 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (1), 6-2
• Adrian Mannarino (22) beat Yosuke Watanuki: 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5
• Zhizhen Zhang beat J.J. Wolf: 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-3