Juan Martin del Potro, the charismatic and popular Argentinean, got his US Open campaign off to a strong start on Wednesday when he defeated Swiss Henri Laaksonen 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(5) in two hours and 33 minutes.

Appearing at the US Open for the fifth time since he captured the 2009 trophy, No. 24 seed del Potro lost his serve only once and struck 15 aces, among 32 winners, for his 25th match win at Flushing Meadows. Eight years ago, del Potro snapped Roger Federer’s 40-match winning streak at the major in a five-set final win.

’The Tower of Tandil’, who features in sixth seed Dominic Thiem’s quarter of the draw, will now meet Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, who recorded his first major championship win over American Patrick Kypson 6-4 7-6(9), 6-1. At the age of 31, Menendez-Maceiras had qualified for his first main draw in his 10th attempt in New York. He is a two-time winner on the ATP Challenger Tour this year, in Leon, Mexico and Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Dominic Thiem, one of the hardest working players on the ATP World Tour, completed his rain-interrupted first-round encounter against wild card Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in one hour and 49 minutes on Wednesday at the US Open. The pair’s first meeting restarted on Grandstand with Thiem leading 1-0 in the third set.

The sixth-seeded Austrian won 10 straight games from a 0-1 deficit in the second set against his 18-year-old Australian opponent and will next face Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis or #NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz in the second round.

“Sets two and three were really decent, and the biggest thing I have to do now is probably to just continue like this, because the first set was not good,” said Thiem. “It was [a] pretty nervous start, but then it really got better. I [will] try to start off tomorrow like I finished yesterday and today.”

Thiem, contesting his 21st tournament of the season, has posted a 42-19 match record in 2017. Over the next fortnight, he will be hoping to better his US Open fourth-round runs in 2014 (l. to Berdych) and 2016 (l. to del Potro), and also further improve his chances of qualifying for the second straight year to the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 7-11 November at The O2 in London.

Later in the day, Czech No. 15 seed Tomas Berdych extended his perfect record (4-0) against American Ryan Harrison with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(4) victory for a place in the second round. Berdych, the 2012 semi-finalist, recovered from a 0-3 deficit in the first set and saved one set point 5-6 in the third set, when Harrison served at 40/30. He now challenges Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov or Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.

Basking in the surrounds of a closed-roof home-crowd atmosphere on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Frances Tiafoe admits a five-set defeat to Roger Federer only serves as motivation. The #NextGenATP American fell 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 to the No. 3 seed but the words of encouragement he received at net reassured him he was on the right track.

“Great year so. You’re only getting better and better. Keep going, you’re going to have one hell of a future,” Tiafoe said the Swiss great told him. With rain washing out most of the day’s play, a closed roof only amplified the electric New York City atmosphere on Tuesday night. Tiafoe was feeding off the home support.

“The crowd was getting behind me pretty good,” Tiafoe said. “I like to get the crowd pretty into it, especially in the fourth, when I was playing pretty much [playing] lights out. 

“I was getting pretty hyped. They were liking that. I’m pretty sure they would have liked me to have sneaked that one out. But, yeah, the guy’s just too good.”

The 19 year old said he did not feel overly nervous about the showdown with the five-time champion. After he broke in the opening game of the match he certainly appeared to have settled the quicker of the two. 

A break-back when the Swiss was serving for the match at 5-3 in the fifth set provided momentary hope and whipped the New York City crowd into a frenzy, but the contest was over a game later when Tiafoe surrendered serve at the two-hour, 40-minute mark. The American was left with little doubt in his mind as to Federer’s standing in the game.

“He is the greatest, yeah,” Tiafoe said before he elaborated on what made the 36 year old so tough. “Go down the list. I mean, I can’t read his serve. He jumps on the return ball better than anyone, doesn’t give the baseline up. I mean, he takes time away, best mover by far. Yeah, he just sees the game completely different than everybody else … He’s unbelievable.”

It was the type match the World No. 70 in the Emirates ATP Rankings had dreamt of playing. The result would only drive him to work harder. “It’s the only reason I play the game,” he said of the match.

“Every day I thought I would be here. I always told my dad that. Finally, I had the opportunity to do it. It means the world to me. I’m happy that my brother, my mum, my dad, everyone got to see it.”

In a battle of former junior rivals, #NextGenATP stars Alexander Zverev and Borna Coric square off in a blockbuster second-round showdown on a stacked Day 3 schedule at this year’s US Open. After a near wash-out of Tuesday’s play, 30 of the 32 first-round matches planned for Tuesday were rescheduled to Wednesday, including six already in progress.

Among those returning to complete their first-round assignments is No. 6 seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian will resume his match with Australia’s Alex de Minaur, leading 6-4, 6-1, 1-0. No. 26 seed Richard Gasquet, of France, will return to take on Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer locked at 3-6, 6-2, while home hope Donald Young will return with a 6-3, 1-6, 2-0 lead over German Maximilian Marterer.

As 16 year olds, Zverev and Coric met at the 2013 US Open in a boys’ singles semi-final, which the Croat won 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 en route to the title. Coric subsequently rose to the top of the ITF Junior Circuit rankings in September 2013, but Zverev overtook him seven weeks later and ended the year as Junior No. 1.

As 18 year olds, Coric again defeated Zverev in three sets at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati. As 20 year olds, they return to New York City, where Zverev hopes for his first win in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry after capturing five titles already in 2017.

Zverev achieved his career-high of No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on August 21. He earned the biggest win of his career over then No. 2 Novak Djokovic to capture his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Rome. He defeated Roger Federer to claim a second ATP Masters 1000 title of the season at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal leading in to this year’s US Open.

Coric saved five championship points to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber for his first ATP World Tour title at Marrakech. He followed it up with the biggest win of his career over World No. 1 Andy Murray en route to the Matua Madrid Open.

DAY THREE HIGHLIGHTS

• Coming up in the juniors with Zverev and Coric was Hyeon Chung, who rose to a career-high No. 47 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday. The South Korean challenges No. 1 American John Isner on Louis Armstrong Stadium. Isner is 9-0 in US Open second-round matches and attempting to reach the third round for the ninth straight season. The 6’11” American is 14-3 overall since Wimbledon.
• Chung, Coric and 20 year old American Jared Donaldson are tied for third among #NextGenATP players with 18 wins in 2017 (Zverev 47, Khachanov 23). Like Chung and Zverev, Donaldson has a career-high ranking this week. The World No. 51 seeks his second straight third-round spot at the US Open against No. 16 seed Lucas Pouille, whom he beat in two tiebreakers at ATP Masters 1000 Montreal on August 7. Pouille defeated Marco Chiudinelli, Roberto Bautista Agut and Rafael Nadal in consecutive five-setters to reach the 2016 US Open quarter-finals.
• Rounding out the #NextGenATP quintet is 18 year old Canadian qualifier Denis Shapovalov, who faces No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Shapovalov is 5-1 in tour-level matches this month with all five wins over high-ranked opponents. He followed his dream run to the ATP Masters 1000 Montreal semi-finals with a first-round win over fellow #NextGenATP player Daniil Medvedev. The US Open is the only Grand Slam where Tsonga has not reached the semi-finals. He earned his first win since Wimbledon over Marius Copil on Monday.
• Tsonga is one of 12 seeds in second-round action, including Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic and semi-finalist Sam Querrey. The fifth-seeded Cilic was originally scheduled for a first-round meeting with Gilles Simon, whom he is 1-5 against. But when No. 2 seed Andy Murray withdrew on Saturday, Cilic replaced him at the bottom of the draw and the 17th-seeded Querrey was moved into the spot opposite Simon. Querrey, who lost to Cilic in the Wimbledon semi-finals, eased past Simon on Monday. Cilic, meanwhile, defeated 105th-ranked American Tennys Sandgren.

Tennis writer Jon Wertheim once dubbed him “the Roger Federer of tennis research”. Now as the go-to man for all things data and stat-related in tennis media, well-known statistician king Greg Sharko has been recognised with the Bud Collins Award. 

Officially the ATP Director of Media Information, “The Shark” has been a fixture of the ATP since 1986. He has edited the yearly ATP Media Guide since 1990 and is best known for his extraordinary depth of tennis facts and stats. 

The International Tennis Writers Association honoured Sharko in New York City on Sunday night for his three decades of service to the media where he was presented with the award in Collins’ memory. Collins, who passed away in 2016, was one of the most prominent figures in the tennis media and was a long-time member of ITWA.

“I’m very honoured to be the first recipient from the ATP of the Bud Collins Awardd,” Sharko said. “To receive this award from the ITWA members means a lot to me. Bud’s contributions to our sport will always be remembered.

“I have been blessed and grateful to have been with the ATP for 31 years and I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to be part of such a great team that delivers a valuable service to our friends in the media.”