New York (AFP)

The rain disrupted the start of the 2nd day of the US Open on Tuesday, where Queen Serena Williams is due to start on her last night? - campaign to equal the record of 24 Grand Slam titles.

Only the match scheduled for 11:00 am (5:00 pm French) on the Louis-Armstrong court with a roof could start on time.

But an hour later, all the courts had become passable again and the day was launched.

The Spanish Garbine Muguruza, finalist of the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, thus took the lead under the roof of Louis-Armstrong and qualified for the second round by beating the Japanese Nao Hibino ( 78th) 6-4, 6-4 while the other matches were just beginning.

According to the program, the meetings on the Arthur-Ashe court, also equipped with a retractable roof, were not to start before 12 p.m. (6 p.m.) and therefore started on time with the entry into the running of the ghost Andy Murray ( 33 years old, 115th) against Yoshihito Nishioka (49th).

The Scotsman, winner at Flushing Meadows in 2012 and world No.1 in 2016, has not played in the Grand Slam since his defeat in the first round of the Australian Open in 2019. He has since been operated on for the second time from hip, before injuring his pelvis during the Davis Cup last November.

This injury, combined with the coronavirus pandemic, kept him out of competition until the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, where he lost in the round of 16 last Tuesday against Milos Raonic, future finalist.

- Medvedev at work -

The second day of the US Open must also see the entries in contention of Daniil Medvedev, magnificent finalist last year against Nadal, of Dominic Thiem who pushed Djokovic to the 5th set in February in the final of the Australian Open. , or Sofia Kenin who won her first Major in Melbourne this year.

But above all, the American public impatiently awaits in front of their television screen, behind closed doors, the first match of their queen Serena Williams.

She may be trying for the last time to win a 24th Grand Slam title, which would be her 7th US Open, in order to equal Margaret Court's record.

But a few days away from celebrating its 39 years, the stakes are not made.

The American has been chasing this 24th major title for three years.

Since her coronation at the 2017 Australian Open, when she was pregnant with her daughter Olympia.

She had four chances to win it, but failed in the Wimbledon and US Open finals in 2018 and 2019.

Would a third final in a row at Flushing Meadows be the right one?

It would already have to succeed.

This year, she will have the chance to benefit from a table lacking 6 of the 10 best players in the world who preferred to give up the US Open because of the sanitary conditions.

© 2020 AFP