US Open: Ashleigh Barty beat Clara Tauson and goes to the 3rd round
Women’s No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty reached the third round of the US Open with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Clara Tauson.
Barty missed the tournament in 2020 because of the pandemic, staying home in Australia. The reigning Wimbledon champion, Barty had trouble closing out Tauson but survived and will try to reach the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
A brilliant sun and clear skies greeted Barty and Tauson as they kicked off the action on an Arthur Ashe Stadium court that 12 hours earlier had closed its retractable roof and battened down the hatches as remnants of Hurricane Ida pounded New York, shutting roads and trains in and out of the sprawling facility.
The powerful storm led the National Weather Service to declare a flash flood emergency in New York City for the first time in history.
The impact of the storm was still being felt at the US Open on Thursday, with the start of play delayed by an hour as fans trickled back for morning matches, while crews raced to clear flooded roads and trains slowly returned to service.
Tauson faced another type of storm in the form of top seeded Australian Barty, who threatened to blow the 18-year-old off the court in a lopsided opening set before letting up in the second. As in her opening round match, a 6-1 7-6 win over Vera Zvonareva, Barty dominated early on then struggled to deliver the knockout punch.
