Sela and Schwartzman win US Open first round matches

Dudi Sela and Diego Schwartzman eased into the second round of the US Open after claiming comfortable wins on Monday,

Sela, Israel’s only senior representative in New York, is making his tenth appearance at Flushing Meadows, and was given an easy first round tie against 21-year-old wild card Christopher Eubanks. The American was taking part in his first game in New York, though proved no match for Sela, who claimed a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory in just over 90 minutes. He said afterwards: “I think today I returned a lot of balls from his serve and let him play a lot of balls. I kept a lot of balls in play and when I had the chance, I made him move a little bit.

“My first serve, I didn’t go for too much. I had a good percentage. I played very solid.” Looking to reach the third round of the competition for the first time, he faces a tough test if he is to do that, with a clash against the 17th seed, Sam Querrey, up next for him on Wednesday.

Elsewhere on Monday, Argentine Diego Schwartzman claimed an equally impressive win over his compatriot Carlos Berlocq, winning 6-2, 6-1, 6-3. His fourth appearance, he next faces Serbian Janko Tipsarevic as he looks to reach the third round of the competition for the first time.

Sela is also involved in the doubles competition, where alongside Belgian Steve Darcis, they take on Spain’s David Marrero-Santana and France’s Benoit Paire. Schwartzman is also competing in the doubles. Teaming up with compatriot Guido Pella, they take on South Korean Hyeon Chung and Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu in their first round clash.

In the women’s draw, Italian Camila Giorgi saw her tournament end early after she was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the 31 seed, Slovakian, Magdalena Rybarikova.