By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Even Coco Gauff had to applaud a couple of times when her opponent hit some nifty shots.
There was the ball that Zeynep Sonmez tracked down deep in the corner and hit down the line on the run. There was a volley with unusual spin that just cleared the net for another point.
Many of the rest of the highlights belonged to Gauff.
The No. 4 seed opened her quest for a second U.S. Open title on Tuesday by beating Sonmez, 6-3, 6-4, regaining control midway through the second set after her opponent from Turkey picked up her play.
“I know that I can raise my level if I need to do and I like to challenge my opponent to let them keep up the level the whole match,” Gauff said. “And if they do, I clap my hands and I walk off court with my head held high.”
Instead, she’s walking into a second-round match against either Paula Badosa or Daria Kasatkina.
Gauff was battling serving woes when she arrived in Flushing Meadows last year and began working with a new coach on the eve of the tournament. There wasn’t time to fix her problems and Gauff had to battle though a rocky opener before getting easily ousted by Naomi Osaka in the fourth round.
Gauff returned this year with the confidence and momentum of a serious contender, winning the title in Cincinnati – like she did in 2023 before going on to win her first Grand Slam as a teenager – after semifinal runs at Wimbledon and Toronto.
On Tuesday, Gauff won 64% of her second serve points – her third-highest percentage of second serve points won in a U.S. Open match.
Gauff is in the mix for the No. 1 world ranking following the US Open, as are Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula. To take No. 1, Gauff would need to win the title and have Rybakina lose before the semifinals.
No. 17 seed Alex Eala, playing in front of her many Filipino fans, breezed into the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Mary Stoiana.
This summer has seen the 21-year-old Eala beat Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon and win her first tour singles title. She’s at a career-best 18th in the world, and her fans came out in droves Tuesday, bearing Filipino flags and wearing hats telling her to fight on (“Laban Alex”). They cheered her sizzling groundstrokes, documented her volleys and serves in photos and video, and in some cases FaceTimed with friends or family – and this was only at the practice courts.
About four hours before Eala was to take the court for her opening match, every seat at the practice court was filled. Many of Eala’s fans didn’t have tickets for the evening session. But they had come to see her hit.
ZVEREV RALLIES TO AVOID UPSET
Alexander Zverev rallied just in time to avoid becoming the first men’s No. 1 seed to lose in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament since 2003, edging Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4, in a match that ended Wednesday morning ET.
Zverev won his first major title at the French Open, lost to top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, then became the No. 1 seed in a major for the first time when Sinner had to withdraw with a right knee injury.
He couldn’t cash in on repeated chances to break Sonego’s serve for much of the night and was in danger of becoming the first top-seeded man to fall in his first match in a major since Ivo Karlovic beat Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2003.
It hasn’t happened at the U.S. Open since Stefan Edberg lost to Alexander Volkov in 1990. Zverev finally broke through against Sonego’s serve late to pull out the match in 4 hours, 52 minutes.
Zverev is 7-0 against Sonego, an Italian who came in 1-9 against top-10 men in Grand Slams. But Sonego’s speed around the court allowed him to track down balls that on other nights would have been winners, and he came up with enough clutch serves to make Zverev just 5 for 22 on break points for the match.
MONFILS WINS ON 40TH BIRTHDAY
Gael Monfils stood in the middle of the court and bowed t,o the crowd that was treating the Frenchman to a roaring ovation on his 40th birthday.
The match was still a ways from ending. But after leaping in the air to smash a forehand winner – a daredevil shot that few outside one of tennis’ ultimate showmen might even attempt – there was no reason to wait.
Monfils turned back the clock and pushed back the end of his Grand Slam career, beating Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0, on Tuesday night at the U.S. Open.
Monfils became the oldest man to win a U.S. Open match since Jimmy Connors – another guy who loved to put on a show in New York – defeated Jaime Oncins on Sept. 2, 1992, when he turned 40.
“That was definitely very special. To play the day of my 40th birthday is special. You guys made it, like, incredible,” Monfils said to the fans at Louis Armstrong Stadium, who then sang happy birthday to him.
Monfils is planning to retire after this year and is making a few more memories along the way at the tournament where he reached the 2016 semifinals. He began the event by teaming up with his wife, Elina Svitolina, to reach the mixed doubles semifinals in their first time competing together.
Then, before the singles play began, he looked ahead toward his looming birthday.
“I hit my 40th birthday the day I play, so this is a big milestone for me, able to play at 40,” Monfils said. “I want to do, not good but really good, for where I am now.”
He did amazing.
He quickly began to outplay Vallejo after dropping the first set, then really poured it on to begin the fourth. It was 1-0 when he hit his leaping forehand winner, then raised his hand toward his ear and spun it to encourage cheers that were already well underway.
Monfils acknowledged the obvious: Jumping to hit the shot is more difficult than just hitting a regular forehand. But with a comfortable lead at the time, he thought it would provide “more happiness, more joy for me.”
“You know, I tried it. Lucky I put it in, but somehow, I’m here to also enjoy myself. There’s not many, many times (left), and, you know, it was the right moment, so why not try it?”
Monfils, in his 18th U.S. Open appearance, earned his first Grand Slam win since the first round of Wimbledon in 2025. He advanced to face Irvine’s Learner Tien, the No. 14 seed.
COBOLLI, SAKKARI MAKE DRAMATIC COMEBACKS
Flavio Cobolli rallied from two sets down to avoid an early upset on the men’s side, and his wasn’t even the most dramatic comeback Tuesday.
Maria Sakkari fell behind, 6-2, 4-0, once she was finally able to get on the court after the rain stopped, then the No. 32 seed rallied to edge Robin Montgomery, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
“Just kept telling myself that everything is possible and just try to get myself in a good place mentally and just try to be a little bit more positive, try to make more balls, get myself into the match,” said Sakkari, who reached the U.S. Open and Wimbledon semifinals in 2021. “Because, I mean, everyone’s very good in tennis nowadays, but specifically that girl I played today doesn’t have the experience that I do. So I just told myself, let’s try and hang in there, try and make more balls, and it worked.”
Cobolli, the No. 5 seed and French Open runner-up, beat Francisco Comesana, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, finishing his match that lasted 4 hours, 12 minutes not long after some sun had broken through the clouds and allowed play to start on all the outside courts.
Cobolli made his first career two-set comeback to avoid joining fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 10 Arthur Fils among early losers in a men’s draw that was already missing top-ranked Jannik Sinner, Cobolli’s fellow Italian who was unable to play in the tournament because of a right knee injury.
He said he took a bathroom break after the second set and decided to change everything he was wearing.
“In Grand Slams it’s never done. You have to fight until the last point,” Cobolli said.
French Open champion Mirra Andreeva and 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Taylor Fritz had smooth sailing. Fritz, the No. 9 seed, rolled to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over 18-year-old fellow American Darwin Blanch. Andreeva beat Janice Tjen, 6-2, 6-2.
RAIN FORCES DELAYS, SCHEDULE CHANGES
Showers that began Monday night and would possibly be on and off through the middle of the week delayed play on all the outer courts, allowing for action only in Ashe and Armstrong, which have retractable roofs.
Rain returned Tuesday night, again restricting play to two courts and meaning some first-round matches won’t be completed before Wednesday.
Madison Keys, the No. 22 seed, beat 19-year-old Alina Korneeva, 7-5, 6-4, in the leadoff match in Ashe. The 2017 U.S. Open runner-up was knocked off in the first round last year in Flushing Meadows.
“It’s always tough playing someone young and up and coming, and they’re going after their shots,” Keys said. “And it’s so hard to play a first round of a Grand Slam, so nervous and just wanting to do so well. So, really happy I was able to kind of fight through that and win today.”
Play finally began outdoors in the middle of the afternoon, when No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina beat Thea Frodin, 6-3, 6-2. Frodin, a 17-year-old from California, was the body double for actor Demi Singleton, who played Serena Williams, in the 2021 film “King Richard.”
No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic, who teamed with Cobolli to reach the mixed doubles final, lost to Yulia Putintseva in three sets.