Former champion Marin Cilic wins but Spanish veteran David Ferrer bows out
Tuesday 29 August 2017 17:07, UK
British duo Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie moved safely through to the second round of the US Open on Monday.
Edmund opened his US Open campaign in impressive fashion with a straight-sets first-round victory over seeded Dutchman Robin Haase while Norrie marked his debut in New York with an easy win over Russian Dmitry Tursunov who retired at the start of the third set because of a knee injury with his opponent two sets ahead and cruising.
British No 2 Edmund, full of confidence after reaching the semi-finals at the Winston-Salem Open last week, won 6-3 7-5 6-3 in under two hours and will now play American Steve Johnson for a place in the third round.
Edmund, who controlled the match from the back of the court, used his booming forehand to pummel Haase into submission and broke his opponent's serve on five occasions.
Johannesburg-born Norrie, from Fort William, won a tight opening set on Court 14 on the tie-break before racing to a 6-1 score in the second when his opponent pulled out.
The British No 5 will be expected to face a stiffer challenge in the next round when he takes on Spain's 12th-ranked Pablo Carreno Busta who defeated American Evan King 6-3 6-2 7-6 (7-5).
Fifth seed and 2014 champion Marin Cilic reached the second round with a 6-4 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over America's Tennys Sandgren.
Cilic, playing his first match since losing the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, will face Germany's Florian Mayer for a place in the last 32 after he recorded a 7-5 0-6 6-3 6-4 win over Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva.
"I feel just a little bit rusty," fifth seed Cilic said in an on-court interview after the match. "I need a few matches to get in the rhythm. I was hitting some good shots and then making some unforced errors."
David Ferrer, who made a surprise run to the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month, fell to 103rd-ranked qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-1.
There were wins for eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 10th-ranked John Isner against Marius Copil and Pierre-Hugues Herbert respectively while 13th seed Jack Sock went down down 6-2 7-6 (14-12) 1-6 5-7 6-4 to Australian Jordan Thompson.
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