Court Seven Proves Lucky for U.S. Players at Open

©Colette Lewis 2007--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

The perfect weather here--cloudless blue sky, no humidity, temperatures in the low 80s, a light breeze--has produced an added luxury of scheduling choices, and today most of the juniors from the U.S. were on courts 6 & 7. With shade trees between them, it's an ideal spot to watch two matches at once.

I began by watching University of Florida freshman Jeff Dadamo, one of the eight U.S. wildcards, on court 6, but he made such quick work of No. 13 seed Stephen Donald of Australia, in no small part due to some solid play from his (one-handed) backhand side, that I gravitated to court 7 to watch Alison Riske against Aleksandra Koleschnichenko of Uzbekistan. Riske was down 3-0 in the first set, pulled even, but eventually dropped it 6-4. She then found her form and went on to win the next two sets 6-1, 6-1. I spoke to her afterwards and she admitted that winning a match in women's qualifying had helped her confidence, but also called the atmosphere at the Open intimidating. But then she said something I can't recall any player ever saying to me before:

"I knew one way or the other I was going to come out winning. I just knew it, so I had to play like it."



Rhyne Williams, the only U.S. boy seeded, at No. 9, followed Riske on Court 7. Williams told me yesterday that his pulled stomach muscle was fine, but until late in the first set, he didn't seem to be hitting his serve with the same velocity as when he won the Easter Bowl back in April. His forehand was as impressive as usual however, and he outlasted Cesar Ramirez of Mexico 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

I caught just a few games of Austin Krajicek's 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3 win over Alejandro Gonzalez of Columbia, but they were the most important ones. At 3-4 in the third set, Krajicek broke, and although he needed three match points to accomplish the task, an emphatic overhead on the third gave him his first Grand Slam singles win in five attempts.

My luck was good on that match, but I missed the most exciting ending of the day, when Mallory Cecil took a third set tiebreaker to squeeze past Noppawan Lertcheewakam of Thailand 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (5). It was the only first round match taken to that limit today.

I went back to Court 7 to watch Lauren Albanese, the No. 8 seed, against Klaudia Boczova of Slovakia. Albanese couldn't find the depth on her ground strokes during most of the contest, but she served well at key times to take it 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, and set up an All-American second round match against Cecil. Wildcard Coco Vandeweghe made it four U.S. girls advancing, when she took a 6-2, 6-3 decision from Valeriya Solovieva of Russia. Lilly Kimbell, the girls 16s national champion, fell to No. 14 seed Elena Chernyakova of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.


With the first three matches on Court 7 going the distance, wild card Lawrence Formentera was the final American on, and his match with David Rice of Great Britain was one that I saw from start to finish. Although it was his first taste of Grand Slam competition, Formentera showed no sign of nerves, and he played exceptionally well, particularly in the opening set, while Rice did not. Formentera is famous for his forehand, but he stroked a couple of backhand winners down the line on key points, demonstrating to Rice there was no weaker side to attack.

Floridians Ty Trombetta and Johnny Hamui suffered first round losses on Sunday; Trombetta 6-3, 6-4 to Andrew Thomas of Australia and Hamui 6-4, 6-2 to Peerakiat Siriluethaiwarrana of Thailand.

It wasn't a good day for No. 4 seeds, as both Nikola Hofmanova of Austria and Brazil's Fernando Romboli were ousted by unseeded Australians. Hofmanova fell to big serving Tyra Calderwood 6-4, 6-4, while Romboli lost to lucky loser Bernard Tomic 6-0, 6-7 (7), 6-4. Up next for Tomic will be Formentera.

Monday will be an extremely busy day, with 34 singles matches and the start of the doubles competition, but the weather forecast is again excellent, so bring it on!

For full draws, see usopen.org.

TAGS: tennis, Colette Lewis, junior tennis, US Open