After having his tournament opener against Andrea Guerrieri postponed until day four, Alex de Minaur had to endure another two-hour rain delay before putting away the Italian qualifier in straight sets.
The world No 7 advanced with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory to set up a second-round clash with Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
But Maya Joint was among four Australians to be knocked out of the women’s singles after a 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 defeat to ninth seed Elina Svitolina in the second round.
In a clinical display, De Minaur broke Guerrieri twice in all three sets and only dropped serve once, when he was trying to close out the match at 5-2 in the third.
But New York’s miserable weather has left De Minaur facing a scheduling backlog and needing to win seven best-of-five-set matches in 12 days to lift the trophy.
“These tournaments, it’s all about adapting and that’s the name of the game,” he said.
“There’s too much to play for to let something like this affect you, so I’m glad with the way I handled it. I’m glad I got in and out, played a relatively clean match and now I can focus on the next one.”
The three-times quarter-finalist will need to be back on site on Thursday (Friday AEST) to face the 70th-ranked van de Zandschulp and again the following day if he wins again.
One of the fittest players on tour, De Minaur is backing his supreme conditioning as he faces the prospect of playing three matches in three days.
“It definitely helps to be able to get on the court, get off the court and in straight sets. Every little bit helps.” he said. “Now I’m moving onwards, I’ll be ready for tomorrow. It should be a battle, a physical one.”
When he finally opened his campaign on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), De Minaur looked intent on making up for lost time, racing to a 6-2, 4-2 lead in just 49 minutes before the heavens opened.
After scampering back to the locker room, De Minaur returned to court 11 to wrap up victory in less than an hour.
Joint saved a match point and went on to win the second set in a tie-breaker – the first time the 20-year-old has taken a set off a top-10 opponent – but was unable to keep pace with Svitolina in the third.
The Australian recovered from being 4-1 down in the third set and saved three more match points before Svitolina held her serve to love to move into the next round.
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Taylah Preston’s US Open adventure has ended abruptly in the second round. The first Australian through to round two was the first to exit following a 6-1, 6-1 loss to big-hitting American Taylor Townsend.
The 20-year-old wildcard was eliminated in just 48 minutes.
Australian women’s No 1 Daria Kasatkina was also removed from the draw, but not before offering more considerable resistance against Spaniard Paula Badosa.
The pair resumed their stop-start affair that was halted on Wednesday night in sensational fashion.
After first being forced off court because of rain early in the second set, while trailing Badosa 6-1, 1-2, Kasatkina was delighted when officials called it a night immediately after she saved a third match point.
Badosa was furious and had to return 15 hours later trying to serve out the contest at 5-4 and deuce in the second set.
Kasatkina saved her first two match points in an epic 22-point game serving at 3-5 in the second set, before fighting off another six more.
Kasatkina also conjured two break point chances to level up at 5-5 before Badosa, a one-time world No 2, finally closed out the contest to book a second-round date with 2023 champion Coco Gauff.
Kim Birrell also crashed out of the women’s singles in the second round after a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 loss to Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
