Caroline Garcia maintains her rank as leader of the Blues

Eleven French were to start on Monday, but Hugo Grenier was drafted at the last moment and added to the 17 Tricolores registered in the main draw. There were therefore a total of 11 for the men and 7 for the women. On the evening of the first day, seven (four players and three players) were eliminated.

It passes (5): Garcia, Rinderknech, Moutet, Grenier, Bonzi

The French N.1 Caroline Garcia, 17th in the world, qualified quietly by dismissing the Russian Kamilla Rakhimova (90th and drafted from the qualifications), 6-2, 6-4. “I was solid, but there were points where it could have been better. Tomorrow I will try to work on that, also in relation to my next opponent and focus on my second round“commented the Habs who were full of confidence by winning the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati.

For her 10th US Open at 28, she will face another Russian, Anna Kalinskaya (60th). She never made it past the 3rd round at Flushing Meadows. The New York Major is the least successful for her since she reached the round of 16 in the other three (Australian Open, Roland-Garros and Wimbledon) and reached the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros in 2017 .

Faced with Rakhimova, the former world N.4 (33 winning strokes, 18 unforced errors) imposed her power and speed, especially in service (6 aces) and in return of service, to stifle her opponent. For his part, Arthur Rinderknech (58th) won the first Franco-French duel of this first round, dominating Quentin Halys (76th) 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2. But he will have a lot to do in the next match, since the world No.1 and defending champion, the Russian Daniil Medvedev will stand before him.

Rinderknech took two sets to take the measure of his opponent, who had beaten him in their first confrontation in 2019 in Glasgow, and took advantage of Halys’ 65 unforced errors to finally win.

The second duel between tricolors was won in five sets by Benjamin Bonzi (50th) at the expense of Ugo Humbert (138th and recipient of an invitation) 7-6 (7/1), 6-1, 5-7, 3 -6, 6-2. At 26, Bonzi is playing his first Major in New York and he will face Australian Nick Kyrgios (25th), Wimbledon finalist, in the next round.

Hugo Grenier (119th), drafted a few hours before the start of the tournament, seized his chance and eliminated the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry (86th) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. But the next round promises to be much tougher with the formidable Italian Matteo Berrettini (14th) on the other side of the net. For his part, Corentin Moutet (112th) took advantage of the abandonment of Stan Wawrinka (295th) after the second set. The Frenchman was leading 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) when the 37-year-old Swiss, 2016 winner, threw in the towel.

It breaks (7): Tan, Jeanjean, Parry, Dodin, Gaston, Halys, Humbert

After creating the feat in the 1st round of Wimbledon by beating Serena Williams, Harmony Tan (112th) took a set from 2019 winner Bianca Andreescu (48th), but lost 6-0, 3-6, 6- 1.

Léolia Jeanjean (149th), who had risen to the 3rd round at Roland-Garros, fought on the impressive Arthur-Ashe court but could not do anything against the equally impressive Coco Gauff (12th) who won 6-2, 6-3.

Diane Parry (74th), despite winning the first set, was eliminated by the Chinese Xiyu Wang (75th) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. The French, who will celebrate her 20th birthday on Thursday, participated in the American Major for the second time. In 2019, she had already lost as soon as she entered the running.

Océane Dodin (98th) was logically dominated by outgoing finalist Leylah Fernandez (14th) 6-3, 6-4. At 25, Dodin was playing for the fourth time in New York where she never made it past the second round.

For his first US Open, Hugo Gaston (72nd) was clearly dominated by the Kazakh Alexander Bublik (47th) who won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.Caroline Garcia, their leader, launched the US Open of the Habs with a logical but solid victory against the 90th world, Monday for the first day of the New York Major.