Coco Gauff kicked off her US Open journey with a straight‑sets triumph over Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez, while the legendary Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, have been drawn to face the pairing of Maya Joint and Chan Hao‑Ching in the women’s doubles draw. Fresh from her victory at the Cincinnati Open, the 22‑year‑old Gauff arrived in New York with momentum and the ambition to capture a third Grand Slam title after her breakthrough championship in 2023. The American has consistently reached at least the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the past four editions, and her opening match set the tone for another deep run.
In the second round she will meet either Russia’s Daria Kasatkina or Spain’s Paula Badosa, both of whom are capable of delivering high‑quality tennis. "I wasn’t that nervous today, which was a surprise to me," Gauff told the crowd after her win. "When I walked back onto the court I could barely keep a smile from showing." Her composure was evident from the first point, as she secured the only break of serve in the opening set and wrapped it up in just over thirty minutes. World No.
53 Sonmez displayed flashes of brilliance, rattling off a series of aggressive winners, including a blistering backhand that earned applause from the Arthur Ashe Stadium audience and even drew a nod from Gauff herself. The 24‑year‑old Turkish player settled into a rhythm in the second set, trading breaks and probing Gauff with deep groundstrokes and occasional net approaches. At 3‑2 down in the second set, Gauff faced three break points but held serve, leveling the set and then breaking Sonmez to regain the initiative at 4‑3.
From there the American pulled away, capitalising on Sonmez’s difficulty in maintaining the intensity that had briefly unsettled the fourth seed. Gauff closed out the match with confidence, stating, "I know I can raise my level when I need to. I like to challenge my opponent to keep that level throughout the match, and if they do, I clap my hands and walk off the court with my head held high.
I was able to settle down today." The doubles storyline added another layer of intrigue. Serena and Venus Williams, two‑time women’s doubles champions, are slated to play the team of Hao‑Ching Chan and Maya Joint – the same Joint who defeated Serena at Wimbledon earlier this summer. The Williams sisters last teamed up at a Grand Slam in New York in 2022, where they fell in the opening round.
They had hoped to reunite at Wimbledon after Serena’s return to competition on the grass courts, but Serena withdrew after sustaining a knee injury in her first‑round singles match against Joint. Now, at 44, Serena is back on the tour after a four‑year hiatus, only to face Joint again, this time in the doubles arena.
Joint, a 20‑year‑old Australian, gave Serena a tough battle at Wimbledon that resulted in a knee knock for the American veteran, forcing her out of the planned doubles partnership with her sister at the All England Club. The pair recently teamed up at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, where they were upset in the first round by Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns. Joint and Chan are seeded 14th in the US Open women’s doubles draw, and the first round of that competition begins on Thursday. The Williams sisters, who captured the US Open doubles crown in 1999 and again in 2009, will be looking to rekindle that chemistry and perhaps avenge the Wimbledon loss.
In other news, second‑seed Elena Rybakina advanced comfortably, dispatching teenage American wildcard Thea Frodin 6‑3, 6‑2. Frodin, who once portrayed Serena in the tennis sequences of the Oscar‑winning biopic "King Richard," expressed excitement at the prospect of meeting the real Serena, noting that Will Smith’s repost of one of her social‑media posts was a highlight for her.
On the men’s side, Alexander Zverev narrowly avoided becoming the first top seed to fall in a Grand Slam first round since 2003. He survived a grueling five‑set battle against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, winning 6‑4, 3‑6, 6‑7(7), 7‑5, 6‑4 after nearly five hours of play that stretched into the early hours of Wednesday morning. Zverev, the 2022 French Open champion who lost to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final and later claimed the No.
1 seed after Sinner withdrew with a knee injury, was forced to dig deep when his attempts to break Sonego’s serve repeatedly fell short. His eventual break came late in the fourth set, allowing him to seal the match.
The last time a No. 1 seed fell in the opening round at the US Open was when Stefan Edberg lost to Alexander Volkov in 1990. Zverev’s escape added another dramatic chapter to a tournament already filled with storylines.
Other notable results included fifth‑seed Flavio Cobolli battling through five sets to defeat Argentine Francisco Comesana, and ninth‑seed Taylor Fritz, a home‑court hopeful, overcoming fellow American Darwin Blanch in straight sets. Veteran Frenchman Gaël Monfils, who announced his retirement at the end of the year, celebrated his 40th birthday with a dominant 2‑6, 6‑2, 6‑1, 6‑0 win over Spain’s Adolfo Álvarez. The US Open continues to be broadcast live on Sky Sports from August 30, with streaming options available on NOW without a contract and via the Sky Sports app. Fans can also look forward to the Laver Cup at London’s O2 Arena from September 25‑27, also covered by Sky Sports.