Rain has caused havoc on Day 2 of the 2017 US Open, with play on all outside courts suspended.
Arthur Ashe Stadium, which had a roof installed in time for last year’s Championships, remained unaffected, with top seeds Rafael Nadal and Karolina Pliskova both progressing to the second round following straight-sets wins over Dusan Lajovic and Magda Linnette respectively.
Despite being taken to a tiebreak in the opening set, Nadal breezed through against Lajovic in the final two sets for the loss of four games.
The 31-year-old’s match was the only one in the men’s draw to be completed, with sixth seed Dominic Thiem leading Australian Alex De Minaur by two sets to love (and 1-0 up in the third) when that match was postponed.
Nadal will now await the winner of the match between Taro Daniel and Tommy Paul, who failed to make it onto court.
Pliskova dropped just three games in her opening round win over Linnette, in her quest to go one better than last year’s runner-up finish to Angelique Kerber, while reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko required three sets to defeat Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena.
The 20-year-old next faces Romanian Sorana Cirstea and will fancy her chances of reaching the quarter-finals, her section of the draw having been blown wide open by the sudden exit of sixth seed and defending champion Kerber.
The German became the first defending champion since Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2005 to crash out in the opening round at the US Open, when she was upset by rising Japanese player Naomi Osaka in straight sets.
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It is also the first time since then that a women’s defending champion has lost in the first round at any major the following year.
The result means Kerber, who has struggled for form in the past twelve months, will drop out of the WTA’s top ten when the rankings are updated post-tournament.
It also completed a horror year at the majors for the German, after she had her Australian Open title defence ended in the fourth round by Coco Vandeweghe, lost in the first round of the French Open and was beaten by eventual champion Garbine Muguruza at Wimbledon.
In the match that was underway at the time of writing, it is two sets all between Roger Federer and Frances Tiafoe.
It will be a manic Wednesday at Flushing Meadows, with a load of first round matches still to be completed, as second round play gets underway in the bottom halves of both the men’s and women’s draws.
Matches to watch on Day 3
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Day session – play starts 11:00am (Thursday 1:00am AEST)
Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) versus Eugenie Bouchard (CAN)
Not before 1:00pm (3:00am AEST)
Henri Laaksonen (SUI) versus [24] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)
Timea Babos (HUN) versus Maria Sharapova (RUS)
Night session – play starts 7:00pm (9:00am AEST)
Oceane Dodin (FRA) versus [9] Venus Williams (USA)
[8] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) versus Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Play starts 11:00am (1:00am AEST)
[4] Elina Svitolina (UKR) versus Katerina Siniakova (CZE) – to finish 6-0, 6-6 (2-1)
John Millman (AUS) versus [14] Nick Kyrgios (AUS)
Alison Riske (USA) versus [20] Coco Vandeweghe (USA)
Hyeon Chung (KOR) versus [10] John Isner (USA)
Not before 4:00pm (6:00am AEST)
Steve Johnson (USA) versus Kyle Edmund (GBR)
Grandstand
[6] Dominic Thiem (AUT) versus Alex de Minaur (AUS) – to finish 6-4, 6-1, 1-0
Vaclav Safranek (CZE) versus [7] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)
Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) versus [8] Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
Allie Kiick (USA) versus [25] Daria Gavrilova (AUS)
Not before 4:00pm (6:00am AEST)
Borna Coric (CRO) versus [4] Alexander Zverev (GER)
Court 17
Play starts 11:00am (1:00am AEST)
Jeremy Chardy (FRA) versus [18] Gael Monfils (FRA)
Nao Hibino (JPN) versus Catherine Bellis (USA)
[16] Lucas Pouille (FRA) versus Jared Donaldson (USA)
Not before 3:00pm (5:00am AEST)
Florian Mayer (GER) versus [5] Marin Cilic (CRO)
Not before 4:00pm (6:00am AEST)
[5] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) versus Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)
Court 5
Play starts 11:00am (1:00am AEST)
Ryan Harrison (USA) versus [15] Tomas Berdych (CZE)
[9] David Goffin (BEL) versus Julien Benneteau (FRA)
[10] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) versus Petra Martic (CRO)
[17] Sam Querrey (USA) [17] versus Dudi Sela (ISR)
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