US Open Day 2 early action: Fils gets signature win, Medvedev smashes

Day 2 of the US Open was to be enlightening to a couple of players. Potential long-term challenger to Carlos Alcaraz, Arthur Fils, learned a lot about himself and came from behind to take a well-played match. Meanwhile, third-seeded Daniil Medvedev absolutely destroyed his first-round opponent.

19-year-old Arthur Fils, just beginning to find his proverbial footing for what it means to be a pro, needed a match like he got against 24th-seeded Tallon Griekspoor. Griekspoor took the first set and led two sets to one leaving Fils, a relative novice in a Grand Slam tournament  – his defeat of Griekspoor is his first win in a Grand Slam tournament, to have to win the last two sets to move on to the second round. Fils ended up taking the final two sets 6-4 7-5.

Fils’ serve was incredible as he finished with 22 aces and he won 77 percent of his first serves. He also was the aggressor during the match, which is pretty impressive considering Griekspoor is normally the one who tries to dictate the pace of his matches, and Fils finished with 62 winners.

Arthur Fils figures out how to win on Day 2 of the US Open

Was Fils perfect? No. He’s still far too inconsistent with his backhand, missing relatively easy shots. This is evident by the fact that he had 44 unforced errors. But Fils has the athletic ability, court awareness, and forehand power to be a dangerous player for Carlos Alcaraz one day. He took another step towards finding his way by defeating a seeded player at the US Open.

The much more experienced, and former US Open winner (2021), Daniil Medvedev had a much easier time with his first-round opponent than did Arthur Fils. Medvedev lost just two games in a 6-1 6-1 6-0 demolition of Hungary’s Attila Balazs. Medvedev won 81 points to just 36 for Balazs.

Heck, Medvedev didn’t even need to do much with her serve. He only had 8 aces. But he had 41 winners compared to 12 for his opponent. Of course, Medvedev isn’t likely to dominate the rest of the field as he did Balazs, but Medvedev does know how to win the US Open and he is trouble for anyone he plays next.