Rafael Nadal entered the 2017 US Open with great determination, because if he wins the championship, he will firmly consolidate his world No. 1 position under the chase of veteran Roger Federer. Therefore, the "hammer" played very focused right from the first balls.
Nadal's opponent in round 1 is Dusan Lajovic. Although he was rated lower, the Serbian tennis player was the one who started the game well. Lajovic took the initiative to play offensively and surprisingly took the break first in the third game of set 1.
It was not until game 10 that Rafa took the break and dragged the match into a tie-break to determine the winner. Here, Lajovic still caused Nadal many difficulties. However, with high concentration, Nadal won a narrow 8-6 victory over his opponent in this brain-weighing gunfighting series.
Then things became much easier for the Spaniard when Lajovic became hasteful in every handling session. Nadal started dreamily in set 2 when he won a break in the first game when the opponent held the ball. After winning, they took a break and headed straight to a 6-2 victory. Entering set 3, Lajovic quickly lost his spirit while Nadal kept his focus and won 6-2.
After winning 3 sets with the scores of 7-6, 6-2 and 6-2, Nadal had a pretty good start to the US championship race.
Along with Nadal's joy of victory was arch-rival Roger Federer. The Swiss legend had to take 5 tense sets with the scores of 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 to overcome the home country's tennis player Frances Tiafoe.
The young American tennis player competed enthusiastically, making veteran Fedex sweat profusely. However, it was still the experience and bravery of the tennis player who won 19 Grandlams that helped Federer overcome difficulties to win the final victory. After this weak start, the "speed boat" knew that to return to the world No. 1, he must not be subjective or negligent in any first round.
The women's singles event witnessed many surprises right from round 1. The biggest shock came with the name Angelique Kerber when the home team was unexpectedly eliminated by unknown tennis player Naomi Osaka after just two quick sets of 3-6, 1-6. Before that, former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova came back strongly and eliminated second-placed Simona Halep after 3 sets with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
