No. 17 Frances Tiafoe continued a strong start with American men at the US Open, defeating Japan’s Yoshiko Nishino, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows.
Tiafoe, a two-time semi-finalist in New York, has won 15 US Open matches since 2022, passing Jannik Sinner among most men during that period. He is the only man in the last three years to reach more than the quarterfinals.
“It’s always great to play on this court,” Tierfour said after winning in front of the crowd at Arthur Ash Stadium. “The best tournament in the world. I’m so happy to be back.”
Tiafoe scored 84% of his first serve points, including a perfect 12-12 in the third set against Nishikawa, who lost 13 of his final 14 tour-level matches since the beginning of March.
Tiafoe joined No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 6 Ben Shelton to reach the second round. For him, the next one will be a nationwide matchup against Martin Dam, who defeated 17-year-old Darwin Branch 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Blanch, who trains at the JC Ferrero Academy in Spain and practices a lot with Carlos Alcaraz, was given a wild card to the tournament by winning this year’s USTA National Boys ’18s in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Tiafoe has had a huge success playing his fellow countrymen at the US Open, beating Sinner (7) in five wins over the Americans since 2021.
In other men’s singles results, Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca, who turned 19 on Thursday, won his US Open debut, beating Miomir Kekumanovic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) and 6-3 in front of a massive crowd of his country.
No. 5 Jack Draper played his first match after losing to Marin Cilic at Wimbledon and subsequently being diagnosed with bone cunt in his left arm, battling past qualifying Federico Agustin Gomez 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2.
Also on Monday, No. 28 seed American Alex Michaelsen lost four sets to Argentina’s Francisco Camerana, while France’s No. 22 Ugo Humbert fell 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-1 to Australia’s Adam Walton.
Wimbledon quarterfinalist No. 24 Flavio Koboli had to go far, but reached the second round with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Italian Francesco Passaro.
Also, the winner in five sets was American Jenson Brooksby, with Alexander Vukic defeating 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
No. 11 seed Holger Rune scored 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) against Botic van des Ardschulp, who surprised Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of last year’s US Open.
ESPN research and Associated Press contributed to this report.
