AFP, New York :
Novak Djokovic suffered in sweltering US Open conditions Tuesday but held on to reach the second round with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
The Wimbledon champion, playing his first match on Arthur Ashe Stadium since falling to Stan Wawrinka in the 2016 final, received a brutal welcome back as soaring temperatures and suffocating humidity prompted organizers to offer the men a 10-minute mid-match heat break for the first time ever.
“We both struggled. We were not the only ones today. Brutal conditions,” said Djokovic, who called for trainers who enveloped him in ice packed towels late in the second set.
“I had to find a way to dig myself out of the trouble.”
Until late in the third it was “survival mode” said Djokovic, who endured a rocky start to the season after elbow surgery before breaking through for a 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.
His Cincinnati Masters victory over Roger Federer stamped him a US Open favorite along with defending champion Rafael Nadal, despite his modest sixth seeding.
Federer, the second seed, was to launch his quest for a sixth US Open title – and a first since 2008 – not under the blazing sun but under the floodlights on Ashe against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
He headlined a night session that also featured 2017 women’s runner-up Madison Keys taking on France’s Pauline Parmentier on Ashe, while over on Armstrong, Maria Sharapova launched her latest bid to revive her Grand Slam career against Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder, out of retirement and, at 39, the oldest player to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw.
Mercurial Australian Nick Kyrgios, the 30th seed, will be in action on Armstrong, taking on Moldova’s Radu Albot with a possible third-round meeting with Federer in the offing.
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki played in the heat of the day, but the weather oppressing so many seemed to suit the Dane as she defeated 2011 champion Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-2.
