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Tuesday was “All Canuckian Day” at Flushing Meadows, with every single Canadian in the singles main draw taking to the courts.
So we thank the schedulers for making it all or nothing (even though it’s a “half of the draw” thing and not actually their fault – this time).
Hopefully any Canadian fans attending Tuesday was loud and present and flying the flag throughout the grounds as no less than six were in action in the first round.
First up at 11 a.m. was No. 19 seed Félix Auger-Aliassime against young Jacub Mensik of Czechia.
The two played in the third round of Madrid in April, with the Canadian winning 6-1, 1-0 retired.
This time was … not good.
Result: Mensik all over FAA, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
Also up at 11 a.m. was No. 22 seed Alejandro Tabilo, the Chilean-Canadian. He got veteran David Goffin (first meeting).
Tabilo had a nice run in Montreal, beating Frances Tiafoe and Lorenzo Sonego before losing to Jannik Sinner.
He hasn’t had a ton of success at the US Open so far, losing to young Eliot Spizzirri in the first round of qualifying in 2021 (Spizzirri, who qualified this year, was a 19-year-old college player at the time). In 2022, he lost in the second round of the main draw to J.J. Wolf and last year, in the first round to now-retired Aussie John Millman.
Result: The tough run continues as Tabilo, who served for the third set at 5-3, goes down 7-6 (7), 6-1, 7-5.
Third up on Court 7 was Denis Shapovalov, in on a protected ranking and up against Botic Van de Zandschulp.
Shapovalov won their only meeting, 6-1, 6-4, back in March in the first round of Indian Wells.
It was progress for Shapovalov, who a year ago was on the sidelines with a knee injury and was in New York cheering on fiancée Mirjam Bjorklund from the stands.
Ranked No. 139 at the deadline, Shapovalov needed to use his protected ranking to get in (he’s currently at No. 105, which still wouldn’t have made the cut).
We haven’t done the calculation, but you’d have to think he’s getting to the end of his allowed protected ranking entries.
And this one also … wasn’t good.
Shapovalov was out from last year’s Wimbledon through Auckland this past January. And this is his 20th tournament of 2024; he’s 15-19 on the year. His best run came in Washington earlier in the month, the only time he’s put together three consecutive wins. But that ended with the incident in which he was defaulted, on match point vs. Ben Shelton.
Final result: Shapovalov goes down 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
Later, fourth on Court 8 was qualifier Gabriel Diallo, making his US Open main draw debut.
His opponent was Jaume Munar of Spain.
It was the first meeting between the two.
Diallo struggled a bit with cramps, and he flinched the first time he served for it.
But he got it done. First Grand Slam main draw win.
Result: 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 Diallo
Also fourth on was No. 23 seed Leylah Fernandez, who had a tough, tough first-rounder against Anastasia Potapova.
Potapova, 23, was ranked as high as No. 21 just over a year ago.
In Fernandez’s favour is a 4-0 head-to-head going way back to Acapulco in 2020.
The last three meetings have been on clay – two of them this year: in Madrid (7-5, 6-3) and Strasbourg [4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3].
This one was a barnburner – at times, it was outstanding in terms of quality.
But another Canadian disappointment, in the end.
Result: 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 for Potapova
Night session on Louis Armstrong, as 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu met No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini for the third Grand Slam in succession.
Seriously, what are the odds?
Paolini’s current status no doubt played a role in this plum court assignment.
Andreescu was out after the Canadian tournament a year ago, and so she’s returning to Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2022.
But she needed a wild card to do it; her current ranking stands at No. 167.
Paolini won third-round clashes between the two at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. And the 28-year-old Italian star went on to make the final of both.
Roland Garros was Andreescu’s first tournament back from a back injury.
This time, it felt as though Paolini is meeting Andreescu on the Canadian’s own turf.
So that might hade made a difference, as might the fact that Paolini has played SO much tennis this summer, including a third-round effort at the Olympics in Paris in singles – and a gold medal in doubles.
It’s worth noting that before this year, Paolini had played in 16 Grand Slam main singles draws, and had gotten past the first round only four times – three of them at Roland Garros.
At the US Open, she fell in the second round of qualifying three straight times from 2017-19 – that last year, the four-years-younger Andreescu won the title. After that, some tough draws. Caroline Garcia defeated her in the first round in 2020, Victoria Azarenka in the second round in 2021, Iga Swiatek in the first round in 2022 and Jelena Ostapenko in the first round last year.
In th end, Andreescu’s body let her down. She was out of gas after the first set, fought through cramps in the third and in the end, just didn’t have enough.
Result: 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 for Paolini
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So happy for Diallo! His match was a ‘stadium experience’, so it was hard at times to tell what what was going on. Munar seemed to be upset about something, complaining (I think) to the umpire. Then, he seemed to bring Diallo into it because he joined the conversation. It did seem to be a civil conversation by all three.
Later on, Diallo hit what looked to be a routine shot, but it looked like he grabbed his wrist & doubled over. He lay on his back on the baseline for so long the Munar came over from his side of the court to see what was happening. He finally stood up, & someone from the tournament came over to talk to him. After a couple of more minutes, he started playing. Your article states that he suffered from some cramps, but he seemed to be holding his wrist the whole time.
I don’t mind the ‘stadium experience’ except when things like this happen, & we are left in the dark as to what is going on.
Do you have any insight to the three-way conversation, & was the cramping in his wrist? Tks very much.
It was about taking too much time.
The cramps – or emerging cramping situation – were later on.
Commentators would have no better idea than you as they’re also watching on a monitor on such a small court – if they’d be there at all, which they wouldn’t be.
He had an ice bag on his left leg a lot.
Tks for the explanations. I appreciate it.