Everything that happened on day one of the 2024 US Open (2024)

• 2024 US Open in New York gets underway with Day 1
• Coco Gauff, Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka all advanced in straight sets
• Analysis of this year’s draw; How to watch today's play

Aryna Sabalenka has followed in her fellow No. 2 seed's footsteps, defeating her opponent Priscilla Hon in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

The 2023 US Open runner-up will face Italy's Lucia Bronzetti in the second round.

Novak Djokovic (2) has defeated Moldova's Radu Albot in comfortable fashion, winning 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

It wasn't a perfect game for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, committing 10 double faults, but the 37-year-old will be happy to have gotten in and out in just over two hours.

Djokovic will face fellow Serb Laslo Djere in the second round after his compatriot survived a five-set marathon against Jan-Lennard Struff that lasted nearly four hours.

Novak Djokovic (2) has won his second set against Moldova's Radu Albot by the same score with which he took the first: 6-2.

Albot actually managed to break Djokovic to get back on level terms at 2-2 in the second set after suffering an early break, but the 24-time Grand Slam champion responded by winning the next four games.

The final match of Day 1 of the 2024 US Open is underway as Aryna Sabalenka (2) takes on Aussie Priscilla Hon on Louis Armstrong.

Sabalenka, who lost last year's final at this tournament to Coco Gauff, wastes no time, breaking her opponent in the very first game.

Frances Tiafoe has defeated his fellow American Aleksandar Kovacevic in four sets 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

A battle lasting three hours and 16 minutes, it wasn’t easy but Tiafoe found a way to escape.

The crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium is pumped to see the American advance.

Defending US Open champion Novak Djokovic is putting on a bit of a show here on Ashe. He's moving brilliantly and drawing gasps from the spectators, including Andy Roddick and Lin-Manuel Miranda, with some of his shots.

Djokovic leads 6-2, *0-1 having just missed a break point on his opponent Radu Albot's serve.

• Sebastian Baez (21) has defeated Luciano Darderi 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-0, 7-6(4).
• Arthur Cazaux has swept Pablo Carreno Busta aside in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
• Tallon Griekspoor has beaten Sumit Nagal in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(6).

During a break in play between Novak Djokovic (2) and Radu Albot inside Arthur Ashe, the screens showed Andy Roddick and Lin-Manuel Miranda sitting together. Roddick got a hearty cheer, but much to my surprise Miranda got an even bigger one!

I know we're in the city of Broadway and everyone loves Hamilton, but come on! Roddick remains the last American man to lift a Grand Slam, winning this very tournament back in 2003.

Some stats that put Sloane Stephen's collapse against Clara Burel into context, including a tennis version of Scorigami:

• Burel is the first woman in the Open Era to win a singles match 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 at the US Open, and only the second overall at a Grand Slam after Marta Marrero did so at Roland Garros in 2000.
• Burel is also the fifth woman in 2024 alone to win a singles match at a Grand Slam after losing the first set 6-0. Five such victories matches the most at Grand Slams in a calendar year in the Open Era.

We're down to our final match on Arthur Ashe of the night: Novak Djokovic (2) vs Radu Albot.

Having finally won Olympic gold in Paris a few weeks ago, this Slam doesn’t feel like it will be as important to Djokovic as the ones that have come before it this year. Who am I kidding?

Of course the Serbian will be treating this tournament like his first, second and every single one that has followed. He has the most Grand Slams in history with 24 and is two ahead of his nearest male competitor, Rafa Nadal.

And Djokovic will want to avoid doing something he hasn’t done since 2016: finish the year without a Grand Slam title. There was a semifinal in Melbourne, a quarterfinal in Paris and a final in London, but no big trophy.

Olympic gold is more than enough of a consolation — and was the prize he wanted more than any other — but the 37-year-old will be desperate to keep building upon his legacy at this twilight stage of his career.

Sloane Stephens began her match against Clara Burel on Arthur Ashe by winning the first nine games, but despite holding that dominant position the American has been defeated 6-0, 5-7, 5-7.

Since winning the 2017 US Open, Stephens' record at Flushing Meadows is just 9-7. This is the second straight year she has been eliminated in the first round.

Burel will face Victoria Azarenka (20) in the second round.

Arthur Rinderknech has prevailed in a back-and-forth five-set match against Christopher Eubanks, the Frenchman winning 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(8).

Eubanks, 28, has been unable to build on his run to the quarterfinals of last year's Wimbledon, failing to advance past the second round in five straight Grand Slams since.

Rinderknech will face Andrey Rublev (6) in the second round.

Yoshihito Nishioka was forced to retire during his first round match against Miomir Kecmanovic due to cramping, the USTA has confirmed. The score was 7-6(2), 2-6, 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (ret.)

In the fifth set with Kecmanovic leading 1-0 and Nishioka serving at deuce, the 28-year-old Japanese player began bending over looking fatigued. At advantage Kecmanovic, Nishioka dropped his racket and supported himself against the wall in apparent pain. He then laid down on the court as the chair umpire spoke to him, and holding the upper part of his right leg. The doctor was called onto the court as Nishioka remained on the ground, and Kecmanovic came over to sit next to him, visibly concerned for his opponent.

Two fans courtside said that Nishioka was unable to walk off the court, and needed to be escorted off in a wheelchair.

Nishioka served for the match in the fourth set but Kecmanovic battled back to force a fifth before Nishioka's eventual retirement.

Kecmanovic will play 18th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the second round.

• Frances Tiafoe (20) has won the first two sets of his match against fellow American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 6-3.
• Britain's Harriet Dart made quick work of France's Chloe Paquet, winning 6-1, 6-2.
• Victoria Azarenka (20) has forced a decisive third set against Yuliia Starodubtseva, dropping the first set 6-3 but bouncing back to win the second 6-1.
• Christopher Eubanks and Arthur Rinderknech are into a 10-point tiebreak in the fifth set.

2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens won the first nine games of her match against France's Clara Burel on Arthur Ashe, giving her a 3-0 lead in the second set after dominating the first. Since then, she has proceeded to lose seven of nine games, ultimately dropping the second set 7-5.

Back on level terms heading into the decisive third set, Stephens needs to find a way to recapture the momentum in order to avoid losing in the first round at the US Open for the second straight year.