Machac and Norrie Fall on Opening Day as Toby Samuel Delivers the Shock of the First Round

The opening exchanges of the US Open rarely respect reputation, and the first pass through the men's draw produced two results that will linger. Toby Samuel, playing without the burden of expectation, dismantled Tomas Machac 6-2 6-3 6-2, a scoreline that offered the Czech no foothold whatsoever across three sets. It was the cleanest of the day's surprises: no tiebreak, no late wobble, simply a player who read the hard court better than his more celebrated opponent from the opening game.

The second jolt arrived courtesy of Luca Van Assche, who recovered from a first-set tiebreak loss to beat Cameron Norrie 6-7 6-2 6-2 6-3. The pattern told its own story — once the Frenchman found the range on his backhand exchanges and stopped conceding the neutral rallies, the match tilted decisively and never came back. Norrie, so often the man who drags opponents into a fourth and fifth set, found himself on the wrong end of the attrition.

Elsewhere the seeds held. Daniil Medvedev was economical in disposing of Hugo Gaston 6-4 6-2 6-4, Tommy Paul recovered from dropping the opening tiebreak to beat Chak Lam Coleman Wong 6-7 6-1 6-3 6-3, and Jiri Lehecka came through against Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1 7-6 4-6 6-2. Tomas Martin Etcheverry was ruthless against Vit Kopriva, closing 6-3 6-4 6-0, while Denis Shapovalov, Arthur Rinderknech and Lloyd Harris all advanced without alarm.

The day's endurance award belongs to Jaume Munar, who trailed Terence Atmane by two sets before turning the match completely to win 6-7 3-6 6-1 7-6 7-5. Dino Prizmic also went the distance, edging Alexandr Shevchenko 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 7-5, and Jaime Faria survived a wild swing of momentum against Jenson Brooksby, winning 6-3 7-6 4-6 1-6 6-2 after losing eleven of thirteen games across the middle of the match.

In the women's draw the notable casualty was Dayana Yastremska, beaten 6-3 4-6 6-1 by Lucrezia Stefanini, while McCartney Kessler was outplayed by Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2 6-2. Elina Svitolina was the most convincing winner of the session, needing only 6-1 6-2 against Solana Sierra, and Marta Kostyuk (6-4 6-1 over Storm Hunter) and Leylah Fernandez (6-3 6-2 against Shuai Zhang) were similarly untroubled. Katie Boulter needed three sets and a decisive bagel to see off Carol Young Suh Lee 6-4 3-6 6-0; Karolina Pliskova and Polina Iatcenko both came from a set down, the latter surviving a final-set tiebreak against Renata Zarazua. Taylah Preston's 6-3 6-3 win over Alycia Parks and Lanlana Tararudee's three-set effort against Elvina Kalieva completed a productive day for the draw's less familiar names.

The schedule now brings the marquee acts. Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, opens against Camila Osorio, ranked 58, while Carlos Alcaraz faces Roman Safiullin, a player with the ball-striking to make an early set uncomfortable if the third seed is slow to settle. The most compelling men's fixture on paper is Stefanos Tsitsipas against Arthur Fils: the Frenchman is ranked 11th, Tsitsipas 53rd, an inversion that would have seemed improbable not long ago and which makes the match a genuine measure of where both careers stand.