The final Grand Slam of the 2016 calendar got underway Monday, as first-round play began at the U.S. Open.
On the men's side, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic spearheaded the group of players who completed their first-round matches in Flushing Meadows, New York. Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza and Roberta Vinci were at the top of the day's marquee for the women.
Djokovic, the winner of 2016's first two majors, is looking to win back-to-back U.S. Opens for the first time in his career. He'd be the first player to win consecutive U.S. Opens since Roger Federer's run of five straight from 2004 to 2008.
The women will crown a new champion, as 2015 winner Flavia Pennetta retired after taking home her first major.
With that in mind, let's take a look at how the action played out.
Recap
Full results on U.S. Open website.
If you were looking for any major upsets in Monday's first-round action, it didn't happen as part of the early session.
The major names on the men's and women's side moved through to the second round, mostly in easy fashion.
Vinci, Kerber and Nadal each breezed through their matches in straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Vinci, the seventh-seeded Italian, earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over German Anna-Lena Friedsam. She recorded five aces and earned four breaks, taking advantage of Friedsam's six double-faults and 35 unforced errors.
The second-seeded Kerber had an even easier time, winning her first seven games against Polona Hercog before the latter retired. Kerber was on the court for just 33 minutes, losing nine points the entire match on her way to a 6-0, 1-0 win.
Hercog made 11 unforced errors and looked completely overwhelmed before succumbing to an undisclosed medical problem. She needed a four-minute medical timeout to have her blood pressure checked in the first set before bowing out early in the second.
Nadal had a few inconsistencies on his first serve and made too many errors, but he defeated Denis Istomin 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. The Spaniard watched Istomin shoot himself in the foot with seven double-faults and 39 unforced errors, which atoned for his (relatively minor) struggles in that area. Nadal double-faulted three times and had six more errors (27) than winners (21).
"I think I played a solid match for a lot of time, then was a tough moment in the middle of the second set but I think I resisted well and very happy for the victory," Nadal said on court, per Reuters (via Eurosport). "He's a really dangerous player, so I'm very happy to be through."
ESPN Tennis offered a post-match quote:
A similar story played out for Marin Cilic, who struggled early before getting into a rhythm in his 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 win over Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva. Cilic hit only half of his first serves in play, double-faulting five times and committing 24 unforced errors. But he also drilled 12 aces, won 88 percent of the points on his clean first serves and watched Dutra Silva commit 42 errors and 10 double-faults.
Gael Monfils and Svetlana Kuznetsova were also able to defeat their opponents in straight-set wins. The third seed Muguruza needed a deciding third set against Elise Mertens, but she came back from an ugly first set for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 triumph.
In the most thrilling match of the day, John Isner pulled off another Isner classic five-set thriller with Frances Tiafoe. Down two sets and heading into a tiebreak, the No. 20 seed won the final three sets—two in the tiebreaker format. The match took nearly three and a half hours to complete.
“It was the best atmosphere I’ve ever played on in my life…it’s an unbelievable time I had playing tennis today…you guys made this match unbelievably fun for me,” said Tiafoe, per Kevin Craig of Tennis Grandstand. "It hurts. It hurts a lot…but I can’t wait to come back next year and hopefully do damage."
The same cannot be said for 13th-seeded Richard Gasquet, who continued to struggle in his return from a back injury. Kyle Edmund had no issue knocking the Frenchman out of the tournament with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win. Gasquet played last week in Cincinnati in his first event since injuring his back at Wimbledon.
Lesia Tsurenko's win over 21st-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu was the most notable upset on the women's side. Each of the four lowest-seeded women who were in action Monday lost, including Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig.
The theme of the favorites coming through continued in the men’s bracket during the later session, as Djokovic, Raonic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Roberto Bautista Agut all prevailed in their Monday matches.
Djokovic’s showdown against Jerzy Janowicz wasn’t a straightforward exercise for the top-ranked player. He breezed through the first set but struggled in the second and dropped it, 7-5. However, Djokovic left little doubt who would win in the final two sets and dropped a mere three games the rest of the way.
He also had some fun in the aftermath, as ESPN Tennis shared:
Raonic and Tsonga each won in straight sets, but Guillermo Garcia-Lopez tested Agut in their match. Agut won the first two sets, but he dropped the third and needed a tiebreaker to clinch the victory in the fourth.
As for the women, Johanna Konta and Elina Svitolina each took care of business in their matches. Konta won in straight sets over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, while Svitolina needed three sets after dropping the first to outlast Mandy Minella.
Madison Keys closed out the evening with a tightly fought battle against Alison Riske. Keys dropped the first set and needed a tiebreaker in the second just to force the decisive third. She took full advantage of that third set, though, and cruised to the 6-2 finish.