Sinner overcomes slow start to make second round of US Open

Italian Jannik Sinner, the top seed, reached the second round of the US Open by winning against American Mackenzie McDonald 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in New York on Tuesday.

It was a rusty start for Sinner on Arthur Ashe in the Italian’s opening match, who walked onto court to a mixed reception from the crowd after news of a positive doping test broke last week.

The world No 1 struck 14 unforced errors and won just 29 percent of second serves as he lost the first set 6-2 to the No 140-ranked McDonald.

He adjusted to McDonald’s aggressive play well, however, and improved across the board to win in four sets. Across the remainder of the match Sinner made just 15 unforced errors, striking 28 winners in the last three sets and winning 61 percent of his second serves – a marked improvement on the opener.

Sinner, ranked No 1, will face Alex Michelsen next.

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

• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Tommy Paul
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Li Tu
• Zizou Bergs vs. Pavel Kotov
• Flavio Cobolli vs. James Duckworth
• Jaume Munar vs. Gabriel Diallo
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Mattia Bellucci vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Corentin Moutet vs. Sebastian Korda
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Hamad Medjedovic
• Max Purcell vs. Aleksandar Vukic: tuesday
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Botic van de Zandschulp: tuesday
• Arthur Fils vs. Learner Tien: tuesday
• Dusan Lajovic vs. Daniil Medvedev: tuesday
• Alex De Minaur vs. Marcos Giron: tuesday
• Facundo Diaz Acosta beat Hugo Gaston: 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
• Matteo Arnaldi (30) beat Zachary Svajda (WC): 6-3, 6-2, 6-1
• Nuno Borges beat Federico Coria: 6-2, 6-4, 6-1
• Roman Safiullin beat Matthew Forbes (WC): 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-2
• Adrian Mannarino beat Borna Coric: 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Jack Draper (25) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-3, 6-0, 4-0 ret.
• Alex Michelsen beat Eliot Spizzirri (Q): 6-1, 7-5, 6-3
• Daniel Evans vs. Karen Khachanov: tuesday
• Otto Virtanen (Q) beat Quentin Halys (Q): 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2
• Tomas Machac beat Fabio Fognini: 7-5, 6-1, 6-3
• David Goffin beat Alejandro Tabilo (22): 7-6 (7), 6-1, 7-5
• Hubert Hurkacz (7) beat Timofey Skatov (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3)
• Jordan Thompson beat Constant Lestienne: 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
• Mariano Navone beat Daniel Altmaier: 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1
• Jakub Mensik beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (19): 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
• Tristan Schoolkate (WC) beat Taro Daniel: 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4
• Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (11): 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Radu Albot (Q): 6-2, 6-2, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Sumit Nagal: 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Arthur Cazaux beat Pablo Carreno Busta: 6-1, 6-3, 6-3
• Laslo Djere beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (20) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
• Sebastian Baez (21) beat Luciano Darderi: 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-0, 7-6 (4)
• Brandon Nakashima beat Holger Rune (15): 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
• Rinky Hijikata beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Christopher Eubanks (WC): 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Alexander Shevchenko beat Dominik Koepfer: 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2
• Grigor Dimitrov (9) beat Kyrian Jacquet (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Alexandre Muller (WC) beat Adam Walton: 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-4
• Gael Monfils beat Diego Schwartzman (Q): 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard: 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 7-6 (2), 2-6, 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 ret.
• Francisco Cerundolo (29) beat Sebastian Ofner: 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
• Lorenzo Musetti (18) beat Reilly Opelka: 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5
• Jiri Lehecka (32) beat Marton Fucsovics: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-0 ret.
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 7-5, 6-1, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Maks Kasnikowski (Q): 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6)
• Alexei Popyrin (28) beat SoonWoo Kwon: 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Casper Ruud (8) beat Yunchaokete Bu (Q): 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2
• Matteo Berrettini beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3
• Ben Shelton (13) beat Dominic Thiem (WC): 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (17) beat Thiago Monteiro: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Juncheng Shang beat Alexander Bublik (27): 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
• Roberto Bautista Agut beat Luca Nardi: 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
• Mitchell Krueger (Q) beat Hugo Grenier (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
• Alexander Zverev (4) beat Maximilian Marterer (LL): 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2
• Francisco Comesana beat Dominic Stricker: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Jan Choinski (Q): 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-3