US Open 2024 day four: Sinner, Boulter, Swiatek and more in second round – live

Kalinskaya has to work a little harder against Bondar in the second set. The longest rally of the match, 17 strokes, and Kalinskaya is taken to deuce. Make that break point. For the first time today, the 15th seed looks a little scared. She hits a forehand into the net and Bondar breaks back for 2-2 in the second set. Meanwhile, Yulia Putintseva has the first set in the bag, 6-1, against Wang Xinyu.

Hurkacz serves the first set at 5-3, but Thompson has other plans. The Australian, playing some of the best tennis of his career at 30, carves out two break points at 15-40 and then, off the back foot and on the run, produces a passing winner to break back! Two holds follow, so Thompson will serve at 6-5 down to force a tiebreak.

There were also some strong – and important – words from Caroline Garcia yesterday about the damaging abuse players receive on social media when they lose and how “unhealthy gambling” fuels the hate. It was good to see Garcia receive support from the locker room, including Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys, who both thanked her for her comments. American Jessica Pegula said – somewhat depressingly – “The constant death threats and family threats are now normal, win or lose.”

If you missed yesterday’s results, you can watch them here:

Tomas Machac has made a breakout against Sebastian Korda. The Czech is now serving with a 4-3 deficit. And the first set of the day has – not surprisingly – gone to Anna Kalinskaya, 6-2 against Anna Bondar.

Hubie Hurkacz is also not going to let himself be fooled. The Pole, who injured his knee diving for a ball during a second-round loss at Wimbledon, has done something of a Djokovic in returning so quickly from surgery and leads 5-2 here against Jordan Thompson, who is being watched by Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt. Hurkacz did concede a breakback point in the previous match but won the next three points to hold on.

It’s been a flying start since Sinner’s girlfriend, Anna Kalinskaya, who could be a player to watch over the next two weeks. She’s in a fairly favourable section of the draw, but in the fourth round she could face Elena Rybakina, who beat her at the same stage last month at Wimbledon. Kalinskaya leads 5-1 against Hungary’s Anna Bondar – and with that match taking place on Court Five, that could mean Britain’s Katie Boulter will be in action earlier than expected. Incidentally, Kalinskaya is playing doubles with Boulter here.

I have to admit I haven’t watched much of the tournament so far, while I was covering the Paralympic Games opening ceremony last night and on vacation I played in France before that, so I’m looking forward to getting started with tennis today, especially to see what physical and mental condition Jannik Sinner is in now that his positive doping test has become public.

The players have now arrived at their home field in Flushing Meadows, they have completed their warm-up and here are the first runners and riders: Sebastian Korda, the 16th seed and son of Petr, the 1998 Australian Open champion, will face Czech Tomas Machac, who won gold in mixed doubles in Paris. Yulia Putintseva, the 30th seed, will face Wang Xinyu of China. The battle between the two Annas will be between Kalinskaya, the 15th seed, and Bondar. On court 17, Jordan Thompson, one of six Australian men playing in singles today, will face seventh-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

Order of Play (selected courts)

Tim Henman is a guest on Sky Sports and says he has spoken to Dan Evans. Apparently Evans is in better shape than expected after his marathon on Tuesday. Yesterday he took an ice bath, got a massage and did some exercise on the stationary bike to ease his aching legs.

The Briton is scheduled to play fourth on Court Five today, so that will at least give him some recovery time. And he will be relieved that yesterday’s extreme heat has given way to much more player-friendly conditions, with a high of 25 degrees predicted. Frances Tiafoe said he took 20 shirts and three pairs of shoes onto the course yesterday because he was sweating so much; I don’t think anyone will need to resort to such drastic measures today.

Preamble