2017 US Open finalist Kevin Anderson made a winning return to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre on Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Ukraine's Oleksii Krutykh in the first round of the 2023 US Open qualifier.
The South African is playing his first Grand Slam tournament in exactly a year's time: Now 37, the former world No 5 retired from tennis last year, but announced his return to the sport last month.
He quickly made an impact in his return, reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open Series event in Newport, R.I. last month, and served up an 81-minute win in Grandstand.
The big-serving Anderson's delivery looked vintage against Krutykh, as he popped in 12 aces and saved all three break points he faced. Neither man faced a break point in the first 10 games of the second set, and Anderson won the match's final three games.
The most dramatic match of the day didn't finish until the early evening, and it was a win for 2023's top-ranked college tennis player, Fiona Crawley.
In a few ticks short of three hours, two hours and 55 minutes to be exact, the wild card (and North Carolina Tar Heel) outlasted Hungary's Reka Luca Jani on Court 5, 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-6(6), in a 10-point final-set tiebreak.
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The biggest upset of the day belong to France's Enzo Couacaud, who knocked out No 1 men's qualifying seed Jaume Munar of Spain, 7-5, 6-3.