2014 Tennis US Open dates

New York, U.S.A.

American No. 1 John Isner fired 26 aces as he began his US Open campaign with a 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over reigning NCAA champion from UCLA, Marcos Giron, Tuesday at Flushing Meadows.

The 29-year-old Isner, a quarter-finalist in New York three years ago (l. to Murray), claimed his 32nd win in what has been an up-and-down season for the Greensboro native. In the lead-up to the US Open, Isner retained his Atlanta title (d. Sela), but suffered opening-round exits in Washington (l. to Johnson) and Toronto (l. to Dodig).

"I feel like I played well today, " said Isner. "I guess when you play someone who doesn't have that much experience, especially on a big court, it can kind of happen one of two ways. At the beginning of the match he could come out and be really nervous and not play well and miss a lot, or he could play pretty well. That's what I thought he did in the first set. I stuck with it.

"I played a great second set. I wish the third set would have been easier. I had a lot of chances. So if there's one disappointing thing from today it's not converting on those chances, especially in the third set. I had some in the first set, as well. But all in all, I'm happy with it in straight sets."

Isner goes on to face Jan-Lennard Struff, who rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Mikhail Kukushkin 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

Fifth seed David Ferrer stumbled in the third set before finishing strongly to defeat Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. The Spaniard, who broke serve eight times, next plays Australian Bernard Tomic, who closed out a 7-6(2), 6-4, 7-6(3) win over Dustin Brown.

A trio of Frenchmen progressed as Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon all recorded straight-sets wins. The 12th-seeded Gasquet, who reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows last year (l. to Nadal), defeated Denis Istomin 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-4. Monfils defeated American Jared Donaldson 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, while the 26th-seeded Simon dismissed Radu Albot 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

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Making his US Open main draw debut at the age of 34, Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic clinched his first Grand Slam win as he defeated Igor Sijsling 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. The right-hander reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final earlier in the summer in Bogota (l. to Tomic).

Estrella Burgos goes on to face a player 17 years his junior, 17-year-old Borna Coric, who marked his Grand Slam main draw debut with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 upset win over No. 29 seed Lukas Rosol. The Croatian qualified into the main draw and claimed his fourth tour-level win in one hour and 51 minutes.