Stars come out in the open in New York sky

New York, august 30

Top-seeded world number ones Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic help launch the US Open tennis championships on Monday's opening day of the year's final Grand Slam.

Djokovic closes the day programme at Arthur Ashe Stadium against 89th-ranked Joao Souza of Brazil.

Three-times defending US. champion Williams, the Australian, French and Wimbledon champion seeking to become the fourth woman ever to complete a Grand Slam, opens the night programme against 86th-ranked Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia. The tournament's first match on the Arthur Ashe centre court pits seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, followed by two-times U.S. Open winner Venus Williams against Puerto Rican Monica Puig. The second Opening Night match under the lights features two-times winner Rafa Nadal of Spain, the eighth seed, against up-and-coming Borna Coric of Croatia, an 18-year-old ranked 35th. Ninth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia begins the defence of his title with a Louis Armstrong Stadium tilt against Guido Pella of Argentina.

Cilic follows Japan's Kei Nishikori onto the Armstrong court. Fourth seed Nishikori, who fell to Cilic in the 2014 US Open final, faces France's Benoit Paire in his opening match.

Russia's Maria Sharapova closes the Louis Armstrong day session against Australian Daria Gavrilova. — Reuters

Years gone by

• The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that has been played every year since its inception (1881) 
• In 1970, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to introduce the tie-break at the end of a set. The US Open is different from the other three Grand Slams in that it has final set tiebreaks
• In 1973 the US Open became the first Grand Slam to award equal prize money to men and women. That year’s singles champions (John Newcombe and Margaret Court) received $25,000 each
• In 1975, night play was made possible by floodlights at the US Open, for the first time in any Grand Slam
• The US Open moved from grass to clay courts in 1975. In 1978, the tournament switched to hardcourts
• In 2005, the US Open was given blue inner courts and green outer courts to make it easier to see the ball
• In 2006, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to use Hawk-Eye to review umpire calls
• The youngest ladies singles champion was Tracy Austin (1979) who was 16 years, 8 months, and 28 days
• The youngest men’s singles champion was Pete Sampras (1990), who was aged 19 years, 28 days
• The men's final has been played on a Monday for the past 7 yrs due to weather-related interruptions

$85 The starting cost of a ticket this year

5 hrs 26 mins: The longest-ever match, between Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang in 1992

Live on Ten Sports 8.30 pm