Key events
It’s pretty hot in New York, as might be expected – 28 degrees C, nudging 29 – as Swiatek and Paolini make their way out before a currently half-full Louis Armstrong stadium.
How will Swiatek deal with the balls she’s been so openly critical of?
Recommended reading: Rarely if ever can a first-round match have contained an atmosphere quite like that at Serena Williams’ win over Danka Kovinic. Tumaini Carayol captures the occasion:
If there was any doubt about the significance of Williams’ imminent departure, the spectacle that greeted her arrival on Arthur Ashe Stadium for her likely final tournament nailed it home. Mike Tyson sat next to Martina Navratilova. Gladys Knight appeared to Midnight Train to Georgia playing in the background. In Williams’ player box, her daughter, Olympia, emerged in the stands with beads in her braids, a full circle moment.
After Danka Kovinić made her way on to Arthur Ashe Stadium to relative golf claps, Williams’ entrance was preceded by a video narrated by Queen Latifah. She entered in a costume that sparkled from head to toe in diamonds, from her hair to the bedazzled cape that trailed her on to the court. Both Kanye West’s Diamonds from Sierra Leone and a deafening, prolonged roar from he crowd soundtracked her arrival.
And here’s Tumaini on Andy Murray’s win and Courtney Walsh on an impressive start for Nick Kyrgios.
Preamble
Afternoon/morning everyone, and welcome to day two from Flushing Meadows. After a Monday in which the old stagers Serena Williams and, to a lesser extent, Andy Murray took a sizeable chunk of the attention, we begin with the leading stars of the present today, with the women’s top seed, Iga Swiatek, getting us under way at Louis Armstrong Stadium around 4pm BST (11am local time). She’ll be expected to see off Jasmine Paolini of Italy, the world No 56, though the Pole has looked distinctly fallible lately after an imperious first half of 2022.
Opening up on Arthur Ashe at 5pm is Carlos Alcaraz, the No 3 seed, who has a certain amount of hype to live up to against the unseeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina. Kicking off on Grandstand is the home hope Jessica Pegula, seeded eight, who faces Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic.
And then the evening session (starting at midnight UK time) includes the intriguing face-off between the defending champion, Emma Raducanu, and Alice Cornet as well as Rafa Nadal’s opening match, against Rinky Hijikata.
From a British perspective, we’ve also got Dan Evans on in the early session, second on Court 10 against the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely, and Cameron Norrie looking to build on his success at his most recent slam, when he takes on the unpredictable and colourful Benoît Paire in Court 11’s opening match.
Here’s the show court order of play in full:
Arthur Ashe Stadium (from 5pm BST)
S Baez v C Alcaraz (3)
A Van Uytvanck v V Williams
R Hijikata v R Nadal (2)
N Osaka v D Collins (19)
Louis Armstrong Stadium (from 4pm)
I Swiatek (1) v J Paolini
G Minnen v S Stephens
D Altmaier v J Sinner (11)
E Raducanu (11) v A Cornet
D Schwartzmann (14) v J Sock
Grandstand (from 4pm)
V Golubic v J Pegula (8)
J Isner v F Delbonis
M Cilic (15) v M Marterer
A Ansimova (24) v Y Putintseva
