US Open: Georgia Drummy into second round of girls event

18-year-old beats Russia’s Anastasia Tikhonova in straight sets with Japan’s Naho Sato next

A general view of Flushing Meadows. Photograph: Corey Sipkin/EPA
A general view of Flushing Meadows. Photograph: Corey Sipkin/EPA

Ireland's only competitor at the US Open, Georgia Drummy, came through her first round match 7-5, 6-4 in New York in the girls singles event against Russia's Anastasia Tikhonova.

The 18-year-old Dubliner played off a first serve that returned 77 per cent of the points in her favour, although Tikhonova edged it on second serve percentages where she won 61 per cent to Drummy’s 46 percent.

The former Mount Anville student, who fell just short over two sets in the Junior Wimbledon girls doubles quarter-finals in July with US partner Alexa Noel, will face the ninth seed, Japan's Naho Sato in the second round of the US singles competition.

Drummy, ranked at 40 on the International Junior ladder and currently playing out of the Mandy Wilson Evert Tennis Academy, will have to step up to advance any further with Sato placed at 798 in the senior rankings as well as being the 14th ranked junior in the world.

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The 17-year-old Sato, who began tennis in Tokyo at threeGe-years-old, defeated America’s Dalayana Hewitt 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the round of 32. The pair meet on Wednesday for a place in the last 16.

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson is a sports writer with The Irish Times