Peers, Barty, Dellacqua lead doubles charge
It was a great day for Australia on the first day of doubles play, with seven Aussies advancing to the second round at Flushing Meadows.
New York, NY, USA, 1 September 2017 | tennis.com.au
Top seeds John Peers and Henri Kontinen have begun their US Open campaign with a comfortable win over American duo William Blumberg and Spencer Papa.
Peers and Kontinen, the Australian Open champions, breezed to a 6-3 6-3 win and will in the second round take on Russians Daniil Medvedev and Mikhail Elgin.
Peers, who reached the 2015 US Open final with Jamie Murray, was one of seven Aussies advancing to the second round of the doubles events.
Ash Barty and Casey Dellacqua continued their stellar season with a three-set win over Natela Dzalamidze and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia.
The 6-3 3-6 6-1 win was their 32nd of 2017 and sets up a second-round clash with Yang Zhaoxuan and Shuko Aoyama.
Another all-Aussie duo, Nick Kyrgios and Matt Reid, beat Joao Sousa and Jan-Lennard Struff 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4.
They’ll next face the Bryan brothers, seeded fifth.
Also winning was John-Patrick Smith and Anastasia Rodionova; Smith combined with Nicholas Monroe to brush aside Jonathan Eysseric and Franko Skugor for the loss of just four games, while Rodionova partnered Nadiia Kichenok to beat young guns CiCi Bellis and Marketa Vondrousova.