US Open 2015: Lucie Safarova suffers

New York: Lucie Safarova joined the US Open seeds casualty list on Tuesday when the Czech left-hander became the fourth top-10 player to lose in the first round. Sixth-seeded Safarova slipped to a 4-6, 1-6 defeat at the hands of Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, the woman she defeated in the semifinals in New Haven just last week. Top-ranked Serena Williams launched her quest to complete a calendar Grand Slam by overwhelming 86th-ranked Russian Vitalia Diatchenko for her 29th consecutive Slam match triumph.

The three-time defending champion won 6-0, 2-0 after only 30 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium when Diatchenko retired with a left foot injury. The 33-year-old American chases the first calendar Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988 and a 22nd career major title to match Graf’s Open Era record, two shy of Australian Margaret Court’s all-time mark. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic cruised into the men’s second round but Japanese fourth seed Kei Nishikori crashed out after his runner-up effort last year.

Two-time champion Rafael Nadal survived a scare at the hands of Croatian teenager Borna Coric. Nadal, who won his second New York title on his last appearance in 2013 before injury forced him to sit out 2014, prevailed 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 against his 18-year-old opponent. Djokovic needed only one hour and 11 minutes to capture a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Brazil’s Joao Souza.

Djokovic’s highest-ranked possible semifinal foe had been Nishikori, but last year’s runner-up exited the US Open at the first match for the third time in five years as France’s 41st-ranked Benoit Paire saved two match points and defeated the Japanese star 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.

Safarova, the French Open runner-up, joins seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, eighth-ranked Karolina Pliskova and Carla Suarez Navarro, the 10th seed, in failing to get out of the first round.

With world number three Maria Sharapova having pulled out of the tournament through injury, Safarova’s defeat also served to ease Serena’s path to a calender Grand Slam. World number two Simona Halep reached the second round thanks to New Zealand opponent Marina Erakovic retiring with a knee injury.

Halep was leading 6-2, 3-0 when her 99th-ranked rival called it quits, having received a medical timeout for treatment on her right knee at the end of the first set. Romanian 23-year-old Halep goes on to face either Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine or Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan for a place in the last 32.

Another early winner Tuesday was German 11th seed Angelique Kerber, a 2011 semifinalist, who saw off Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3, 6-1.

Later on Tuesday, five-time champion Roger Federer gets his bid to become the oldest US Open winner in 45 years underway. But he is likely to be overshadowed by Andy Murray’s clash with enfant terrible Nick Kyrgios.

Federer, who won five years in succession from 2004-2008, starts against Leonardo Mayer. Federer has not been in a US Open final since losing in 2009 to Juan Martin del Potro.

But he made the Wimbledon final again in July and a victory over Djokovic in the Cincinnati Masters final last month served to boost his belief that he can add to his 17 majors.