Ten American Women Claim First Round Victories at US Open; Kenin, Paul, Shane Fall in New York Debuts

The first day of the US Open saw a slew of upsets, with No. 4 seed Kei Nishikori, last year's finalist, going out to Benoit Paire of France and No. 7 seed Ana Ivanovic falling to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.

No. 8 seed Karolina Pliskova also lost to US qualifier Anna Tatishvili, with the 25-year-old originally from the country of Georgia getting the 6-2, 6-1 win in less than an hour.

Tatishvili was one of ten US women to advance to the second round, with the complete results below:

FIRST ROUND WINS US WOMEN:
WC Bethanie Mattek-Sands def. Kateryna Kozlova UKR 6-4, 6-3
CoCo Vandeweghe def. Sloane Stephens(29) 6-4, 6-3
Madison Keys(19) def. Klara Koukalova CZE 6-2, 6-4
Irina Falconi def. WC Samantha Crawford 6-4, 6-2
Venus Williams(23) def. Monica Puig 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3
Madison Brengle def. Saisai Zheng 6-2, 5-7, 7-5
Q Anna Tatishvili def. Karolina Pliskova(8) CZE 6-2, 6-1
Lauren Davis def. Heather Watson 7–6(3), 7-6(0)
Q Jessica Pegula def. Alison Van Uytvanck BEL 7-5, 6-3
Serena Williams(1) def. Vitalia Diatchenko RUS 6-0, 2-0 ret.

One of the three US women to suffer losses was USTA National 18s champion Sonya Kenin, who went down to Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-3. 6-1.  Duque-Marino served too well against the obviously nervous 16-year-old from Florida, who had no break point opportunities and committed more unforced errors than usual.

FIRST ROUND LOSSES US WOMEN:
Roberta Vinci def. Vania King 6-4, 6-4
Mariana Duque-Marino COL def WC Sonya Kenin 6-3, 6-1
Eugenie Bouchard(25) CAN def. Alison Riske 6-4, 6-3

Only five US men were in action on Monday, with four of them losing.
The sole winner, Mardy Fish, who is retiring after the tournament, defeated Marco Cecchinato 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in front of a supportive crowd on the Grandstand Court, which will also be retired after this year.

Qualifier Tommy Paul had a 4-1 lead in the first set against No. 25 seed Andreas Seppi of Italy, but lost 11 straight games, as Seppi shook off his early match lethargy. Paul went up 3-0 in the third set, broke Seppi when he served for the match at 5-4, but was immediately broken, with Seppi taking his second chance to close out the victory.

NCAA champion Ryan Shane of Virginia nursed an injury for two months after taking the title in Waco, and had only one victory in the four tournaments he played once he returned.  Chardy had no difficulty in the first two sets, winning them 6-2, 6-1, but in the third Shane began to find his target with his serve. He hit seven aces and won all but two points when he got his first serve in, but he was broken at 4-4, giving Chardy a chance to serve out the match in straight sets.  Shane picked up his only break in that game, with Chardy appearing nervous, and Shane went on to claim the tiebreaker on his second set point, without allowing Chardy a match point.  In the fourth set, Shane's serve deserted him, with seven double faults offsetting his six aces, and Chardy took advantage, staying in points until Shane committed an error.

FIRST ROUND WINS US MEN:
Mardy Fish def. Marco Cecchinato ITA 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3

FIRST ROUND LOSSES US MEN:
Andreas Seppi(25) ITA def. Q Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-0, 7-5
Milos Raonic (10) CAN def. Tim Smyczek 6-4, 7-6(8), 6-1
Jeremy Chardy (27) FRA def. WC Ryan Shane 6-2, 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-2
Fabio Fognini (32) ITA def. Steve Johnson 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(2)

Tuesday's schedule will feature NCAA women's champion Jamie Loeb against No. 4 seed Caroline Wozniacki on Arthur Ashe Stadium, while Frances Tiafoe will make his US Open main draw debut against No. 22 seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia on Court 11.

John Isner(13) and Jack Sock(28) are the only two seeds among the 18 Americans in action on Tuesday.

The mixed doubles draw was released today, with several juniors receiving wild cards.  Taylor Fritz and Claire Liu are the only all-junior team, but Tiafoe will be playing with Sachia Vickery and Stefan Kozlov with Christina McHale. Vicky Duval and Christian Harrison were also given a mixed doubles wild card.

James Blake and Andy Roddick talked about the upcoming group of American boys in this USA Today interview, conducted by Nick McCarvel.