2024 US Open Day Two Recap: Here's what you might have missed yesterday at Flushing Meadows

The second day of the US Open proved quite an exciting affair, with a couple of big names, such as Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Iga Swiatek, out on the courts playing.

It was a really packed day of tennis at the US Open, and we got some really interesting results. For the most part, we had our seeds taking care of business, but we’ll review the most interesting results below. As always, we’ll start with the WTA, so let’s see what unfolded on day two of the US Open.

One of the day's first matches was Danielle Collins's match against compatriot Caroline Dolehide. Collins is retiring later this year, making this her potential final match at the US Open. Very few actually believed that Collins would lose that match, and after she won the opening set 6-1, it looked pretty impossible. Well, it happened, as the American struggled as the match went on.

Dolehide wasn’t giving up and kept pushing, and as the match went on, it worked better and better. She would compete the upset in three sets, leaving Collins furious. She didn’t even stick around for her tribute but simply rushed off the court swiftly.

Another early match was when top seed Iga Swiatek started her campaign. She faced the always-tricky Kamilla Rakhimova, and after taking a 4-0 run, Swiatek looked primed for a swift one. It wouldn’t quite go that way as the Polish player started to miss more and more, allowing her Russian opponent to battle back into the match.

The second set, in particular, was a really close one, even though Swiatek had a lead. We ended up in a tiebreak, which Swiatek won 8-6, but she was down 3-6 in that one. She could have easily ended up in a three-set match but was very happy to avoid it.

Shuai Zhang currently holds the record for most consecutive losses in tennis history, and she extended that record by another match. She was facing native player Ashlyn Krueger, and for a while, it seemed like Zhang would win. She shockingly won the opening set 6-0 only to lose the next one 6-1. The final one was a proper battle, but ultimately, Krueger won 7-5 even though Zhang had really good chances to finally snap her losing streak.

Mirra Andreeva started her US Open campaign with a really solid win over Camila Osorio. It was a tricky matchup on paper because the Colombian can play some really solid tennis, but the ever-solid Andreeva had no issues in this one. She proved to be quite comfortable at the US Open last year, and nothing changed this year as she started with a solid two-set win.

Caroline Wozniacki also proved to be in really good shape. After playing a really solid event last year, where she almost beat Coco Gauff, the former number one started this year with a beatdown of the always tricky Nao Hibino. We'll see if she can keep it going.

A couple of seeds started really well at the US Open. Elena Rybakina returned to New York in style, winning her first match here rather comfortably in two sets. The Kazakh complicated the second set a little bit but, for the most part, handled the match really well.

Jessica Pegula is another seed who played really well. She arrived in New York in top form, and this performance is certainly a continuation of that good play. She’s one of the players who could surprise in the draw, and with her level continuing to be stable, that’s very likely.

Jasmine Paolini is another seed who did really well. She faced Bianca Andreescu for the 3rd time in a row at a major as they played at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year. This one was the toughest by far because she actually had to work really hard to win, but she will win in three sets.

We also had some really interesting upsets. Analysts picked Leylah Fernandez to do really well at the event, but she’s out after only one round, having been beaten by Anastasia Potapova. Fernandez is a former finalist, having played in the final in 2021. Three years later, things didn’t go as well.

Linda Noskova, another player who arrived with high expectations after winning the trophy in Monterrey, was also defeated by Yulia Putintseva in the opening round of the event.

Finally, we have to mention this upset because, on paper, that’s what it was. The 2021 champion Emma Raducanu is out of the event. She faced Sofia Kenin, who has played dreadful tennis all year long, and she was beaten in a very competitive three-set match.

Raducanu raised many eyebrows by opting against playing in Cinncinnati due to having to play the qualifiers, and it backfired spectacularly. She was expected to do well here and win, but she didn’t, and she will now head back home once again.

After we reviewed what happened on the WTA side, let’s see what happened on the ATP side. Quite a few interesting matches, including more than a few upsets, occurred, and we’re going to recap all of it.

Jannik Sinner is the top seed at the US Open, and he started well by winning his match relatively comfortably. Sinner was lightly booed when he entered the court in New York, which shows that some fans haven’t taken his most recent controversy lightly. He did have a shaky start, dropping the opening set, but after that, Sinner was absolutely amazing, smashing his opponent without any issues. Overall, it was a really top performance.

Last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev hasn’t looked superbly sharp lately, but he looked pretty sharp in this one. The Russian did drop a set against Dusan Lajovic, but the Serbian is a pretty solid player who can play tennis well. Medvedev still won the other sets relatively easily, including the final one 6-1, so he’s looking really sharp at an event that many agree is his best.

Carlos Alcaraz returned to the courts as well, and he looked much better than he did in Cincinnati. Much like Medvedev, the Spaniard dropped one set, but he was pretty good overall, winning the match in four sets. He desperately needs a great run after that Paris Olmpiycs loss and the Cincinnati fiasco. Wins like this are a positive sign, but what he does in the later rounds will ultimately matter a lot more.

There was history made at the US Open with a match that ultimately ended up being the longest tennis match at the event. Dan Evans and Karen Khachanov faced each other, and they took their time settling this one. The match lasted five hours and 36 minutes, and Dan Evans late surge won him the match. The final score was 6-7(6) 7-6(2) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-4.

One of the dark horses on the men's side is Sebastian Korda, who has looked really sharp lately. He won the Washington Open comfortably and certainly demonstrated a really high level in his first match here.

He faced Corentin Moutet in the opening round, and after a really complicated opening set that ended in a tiebreak, Korda smashed Moutet in the final two 6-1 6-0.

After injuring his hip in a very unfortunate way at Wimbledon, Alex de Minaur finally played a singles match again, and it was a win over the really solid Marcos Giron. De Minaur did drop a set but overall looked pretty good, which is a good sign because fans had been really concerned about his status and the severity of the injury for the past few weeks.

As always, there were some very notable upsets. Stefanos Tsitsipas was speculated as an early upset candidate because he was facing the in-form Thanasi Kokkinakis, and it happened. The Australian produced a really strong effort to beat Tsitsipas in four sets. The Greek hasn’t looked good lately, and this was just the next result in a very bad line of results.

Auger-Aliassime is another player who was floated as a potential upset candidate because he faced Jakub Mensik, who did some spectacular stuff at the US Open last year. Lo and behold, Mensik did some amazing stuff again and beat Auger-Aliassime quite easily in this one. It wasn’t even remotely close, which is a shame because it’s been a few rough weeks for the Canadian who did do well at the US Open in the best.

So there you have it. It was a very eventful day at the US Open, and today’s day promises to be equally exciting. Check out our preview of Day 3 and stick around for the recap tomorrow morning.