Seven US Women Advance to US Open Qualifying Second Round; Wild Cards Williams and Sandgren Also Post Wins

The first day of US Open qualifying was a successful one for the American women in the draw, with seven players, including three wild cards picking up wins.

Brooke Austin started things off, defeating Ivana Lisjak of Croatia 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Lisjak, who currently has no WTA ranking, received entry via a protected ranking of 236. This match wasn't televised, but Ken Thomas of radiotennis.com is live streaming commentary from Court 13, and he was able to offer the insight he had gained from calling Austin's semifinal match with Vicky Duval at the Girls 18s Nationals 10 days ago. Austin led 4-1 in the third set of that match, eventually losing five straight games for a discouraging loss, but today, after she took a 5-4 lead in the final set and was serving for the match, Thomas urged her to get her first serve in at all costs with slices to the body. It was almost as if she could hear Thomas, because Austin seemed to follow his instructions to a T, making first serves and holding to 15 for the win, her first in the US Open qualifying.

In addition to Austin, two other wild cards picked up victories. Shelby Rogers defeated Monique Adamczak of Australia 7-6(3), 6-2 and Krista Hardebeck survived a tough battle with Tammy Hendler of Belgium 7-6(7), 5-7, 7-6(3). Obviously, from the score, it was a terrific match, and just following live scoring you could sense the drama. Hardebeck served for the match at 5-4 and lost her serve, but in the subsequent tiebreaker she took control, going up 5-1, then 6-1. Hendler saved two match points, but not the third and Hardebeck earned her second US Open qualifying win. She also reached the second round of qualifying n 2010.

Chi Chi Scholl dfeated Sandra Zaniewska of Poland 7-6(6), 6-2, but younger sister Chalena was one of the three US women on losing end of the score today, with Tetiana Luzhanska also falling. Jessica Pegula won 7-5, 6-3 over Teresa Mrdeza of Croatia.

I was able to watch nearly all of Lauren Davis's 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Alison Riske in Tuesday's only all-American battle, thanks to the CBS Sports Network.  Taylor Dent provided the analysis and he was excellent--it took him very little time to identify the patterns and the favored side of both players, even though I'm sure he hadn't seen them play much before, if at all. The serving was sloppy, especially by Davis in the second set, but there were some excellent long points, as well as plenty of unforced errors.

The network didn't jump between the two courts much, staying throughout Christian Harrison's loss to Greg Zemlja of Slovenia at court 17 and sticking with the Davis - Riske match too. But between those two matches on 17, they did go to court 11, just in time to see Maria Sanchez accelerate through No. 16 seed Laura Pous Tio of Spain 7-6(1), 6-1. Sanchez served well and moved forward in those last four games, but Pous Tio was so off her game that the points were not as entertaining as they should have been.

While the women went 7-3, the US men had a tougher day, going 3-5. Kalamazoo 18s finalist Alexios Halebian lost to Brydan Klein of Australia 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5, joining fellow 18-year-old wild card Harrison on the sidelines. Alex Kuznetsov, Michael Yani and wild card Chase Buchanan also lost, although two wild cards, both former Tennessee Volunteers, did come through.

Rhyne Williams recorded one of the day's biggest upsets, beating No. 7 seed Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-3, 6-4. The match was on Court 11, but due to CBS's commitment to the Riske - Davis match on Court 17, very little of it was shown. Tennys Sandgren got through his match with Franco Skugor of Croatia this evening 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5.

Veteran Bobby Reynolds, the former Vanderbilt star, was the third US men's winner of the day. The No. 30 seed beat Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 6-2, 7-5.

The tournament website did a recap of the first day of qualifying, but there are quite a few errors in it. Jessica Pegula did not get to the third round of the US Open last year after qualifying (she lost in the second round of qualifying) and Lauren Davis did not qualify last year. She received a wild card into the main draw last year as the girls 18s champion.

The link to the draws is here.

Tomorrow there are 16 US players scheduled to play their first round matches, with both Grace Min and Mitchell Krueger slated for Court 17, the primary TV court. Court 11 is featuring Americans all day, with Samantha Crawford, Dan Kosakowski, Alexandra Mueller, Bradley Klahn and the match between Madison Keys and Madison Brengle all scheduled for that TV court.

Wednesday's schedule is here.

If you do not get the CBS Sports Network,  streaming is available at usopen.org.