Novak Djokovic [left] and Serena Williams

Briton’s Kyle Edmund took a set off top seed Novak Djokovic but ultimately struggled to keep up with the world number one’s intensity, losing in the US Open second round.

Edmund, 25, unexpectedly won the first set against the Serb, the overwhelming favourite to win the tournament.

But the 33-year-old maintained the level that has helped him stay unbeaten in 2020 and won 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Djokovic is seeking his 18th Grand Slam title and fourth US Open win.

He will face German 28th seed Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.

Top seed Karolina Pliskova was knocked out of the US Open in the second round with a heavy defeat by France’s Caroline Garcia.

Pliskova, runner-up in 2016, lost 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to the world number 50.

Czech world number three Pliskova was the highest ranked player here in the absence of Australian Ashleigh Barty and Romania’s Simona Halep.

Her exit may further improve Serena Williams’ chances of a 24th Grand Slam title in an open women’s draw.

Serena Williams began her pursuit of a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title with a dominant 7-5 6-3 win over fellow American Kristie Ahn.

The 38-year-old went a break down in both sets but recovered to win in an hour and a half as she chases Margaret Court’s Grand Slam tally.

Williams gathered momentum late on, winning four straight games against the world number 96 in the second set.

But she will not be joined in the next round by her sister Venus Williams, who lost 6-3 7-5 to Czech 20th seed Karolina Muchova.

An error-strewn performance meant that two-time champion Venus, 40, made her first ever opening-round exit at her home Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, Varvava Gracheva was playing at her first Grand Slam and trailing 6-1 5-1 to a seed – but then she managed the impossible.

The Russian 20-year-old saved four match points as she climbed spectacularly out of a hole to beat Kristina Mladenovic 1-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 in the US Open second round.

Gracheva will face eighth seed Petra Martic next after the Croat beat Ukraine’s Katerina Bondarenko 6-3 6-4.

Meanwhile, sixth seed Petra Kvitova overcame an early setback to advance.

The two-time Grand Slam champion came back from a break down in the first set and saved a set point to beat Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

But Kvitova’s compatriot Marketa Vondrousova, the 12th seed, became the highest-ranked woman to make an exit.

The 2019 French Open runner-up lost 6-1 6-2 to Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Former champion Angelique Kerber came through a tough encounter with fellow German Anna-Lena Friedsam, winning 6-3 7-6 (8-6), while there were also victories for Croatian eighth seed Petra Martic and Estonian 14th seed Anett Kontaveit.

[Source: BBC]