WHAT HAPPENED: 21-year-old American Frances Tiafoe advanced to the second round of the US Open after his opponent, 40-year-old Croatian Ivo Karlovic, was forced to retire with an injury, 6-2, 6-3, 1-2 ret. (back)
Karlovic withdrew from the Canadian Masters due to a back injury and it clearly hampered him in this match; he was not the serving savant that fans are accustomed to seeing. In the first set he served at 45 percent, and Tiafoe was able to produce return winners seemingly at will. Tiafoe broke him twice—a rarity in any contest that features Karlovic—and the set was over in a blink-and-you-miss-it 28 minutes. In the second set, after a few visits from the trainer, Karlovic brought his serve percentage up to 64 percent, though he only managed to produce three aces. Tiafoe broke him in the sixth game and Karlovic put up little resistance. In the third game of third set, Karlovic began to keel over before serving. He stuck out the game and won it, then walked to the net to shake hands.
WHAT IT MEANS: A win is a win. Tiafoe is no doubt hungry for a good result here: he made the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in Melbourne but lost in the first round of the next two majors. It won’t get any easier from here, though. His next opponent will be No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev, who earlier in the day toughed out a grueling five-set first round match against Radu Albot in three hours and ten minutes. Zverev has a 3-1 advantage in their head-to-head. However given Karlovic’s retirement after just an hour, Tiafoe may have the fresher legs.
MATCH POINT: Karlovic holds the record at the US Open for the most single-match aces with 61. Today, clearly injured, he was only able to serve six.
