On Monday evening CET, 11th-seeded Holger Rune opened the Grand Slam tournament in New York with a three-set victory over Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, who is ranked 73rd in the world.
A relief for Rune, who crashed out of the US Open in the first round in 2023 and 2024.
Despite the three-set victory, Rune did not play particularly convincingly, but was able to profit from the fact that his opponent also did not play his best tennis and made many mistakes.
In the week leading up to the US Open, Botic van de Zandschulp made it all the way to the final of the Winston-Salem Open and therefore arrived late in New York by private plane.
The six matches last week seemed to be taking their toll on the tall Dutchman, who looked worn out from the start and could not find his timing at all.
Rune easily took a 3-0 lead, but then the Dane also started to make many mistakes and played inconsistently. It wasn't pretty but Rune still managed to serve home the first set 6-3.
The second set started in the same way as Botic van de Zandschulp made numerous mistakes, but Rune was not able to punish them properly.
With the scoreline 2-1 in Van de Zandschulp's favour in the second set, the Dutchman received medical attention but decided to play on.
Both players struggled to get their gameplan going and it ended in a tiebreak, after Rune had been two points away from losing the set at 5-6.
In the tiebreak, Rune led 4-1, but let the lead slip away before ultimately winning it 7-4. After the set, Rune received treatment for a stomach problem but he continued without looking hampered.
Van de Zandschulp seemed completely finished, and Rune quickly took a 4-0 lead in the third set. But then Rune lost focus, and the Dutchman fought back to restore parity parity at 4-4, and the Dutchman even had an opening to break Rune's serve again to make it 5-4.
However, Rune finally woke up again as the third set was to be decided in another tiebreak. The Dane was focused and took a 5-0 lead before winning it 7-2 on his second match point.
In the second round on Wednesday, Rune will face either Mackenzie McDonald or the German Jan-Lennard Struff.
View all the statistics of Rune-Van de Zandschulp on Flashscore.