Serena Williams and Djokovic Destroy Opponents; Wozniacki Upset

FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic rolled past opponents easily on Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night, while eight seed Caroline Wozniacki battling a knee issue was upset.

Between Williams’ and Djokovic’s matches, they gave up a grand total of 4 games. Williams defeated Coco Vandeweghe of the US 6-1, 6-1, preceded by Djokovic’s destruction of Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-1, 6-0, 6-1.

“The match was so weird, the conditions were so tough,” Williams said noting the windy conditions. “I couldn’t really play my game.  She couldn’t really play her game.”

“Well, I’ll take the performance that I had,” Djokovic said of his 73 minute first round match.  “You know, it’s hard to say anything from Lorenzi’s perspective.  Obviously, I tried to analyze my game, and my game was great from the start to the end.

“It’s also important for me to try to be as economical with the time I spend on the court as possible, but obviously not underestimating any opponent.  I played really focused, tried to get to the net also.  It was great all in all.”

Eighth seed Wozniacki battled a knee issue in her loss to Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-2, 6-2.

“You always want to go in and do your best no matter what’s happening out there.” Wozniacki told reporters. “I tried.  I didn’t succeed to play well.  I didn’t play particularly well, made too many errors.

“You know, it’s unfortunate because it’s a huge tournament, a tournament you want to play well in.”

Wozniacki said of her knee issue: “I think it’s a temporary issue.  Hopefully it will get better quickly.  It’s frustrating to have some injuries, but it happens to everyone.  It’s just about moving on.”

“The year’s not done yet,” said the Dane.  Obviously definitely the Grand Slams this year hasn’t been great.  You know, after the year’s finished you can evaluate you can see what was good and wasn’t so good, yeah, work from there.

“I still have plenty of years in me.  Hopefully I can just turn it around and play even better.”

Karen Pestaina is covering the US Open as media for Tennis Panorama News. Follow her updates on twitter at @TennisNewsTPN.