Five US Women Through to US Open Third Round; Black and Neel Win Doubles Opener; Ross Beats Top Seed in Canadian Open Grade 1

Five US women claimed victories at today's US Open, propelling them into the round of 32 on Friday.

Madison Brengle defeated qualifier Anna Tatishvili 6-3, 6-2, wild card Bethanie Mattek Sands beat CoCo Vandeweghe 6-2, 6-1 and Venus Williams (23) got by Irina Falconi 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2 in the three all-American matchups.   Top seed Serena Williams defeated qualifier Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 7-6(5), 6-3 and No. 19 seed Madison Keys cruised past Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2.

In addition to the three US women's losses above, No. 13 seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia defeated Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-2, and Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia got past qualifier Jessica Pegula 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

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Mardy Fish's career came to end today on Louis Armstrong Stadium, where he lost to No. 18 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Fish served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set, but couldn't close it out, and began cramping in the fifth.  American tennis has missed him the past several years, and in this article in The Players' Tribune, Fish writes about the anxiety disorder that he has lived with during that time. His courage in publicly addressing his own struggle is admirable and his willingness to speak out can only help to remove the stigma often attached to discussing mental health issues.

Much of today's action on the outside courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was in doubles, and USTA National 18s champions Ingrid Neel and Tornado Alicia Black made their women's main draw debut a memorable one, beating Danka Kovinic of Montenegro and Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.  Neel and Black broke Kovinic serving at 2-3 in the third set, with Kovinic hitting two double faults from 40-30 up in the game.  In the next game, on Neel's serve, the teenagers saved a break point in a four-deuce game, with Neel finally ending it with two forehand winners.

Black was seen vomiting into a courtside wastebasket on the changeover, but after a brief delay and no medical attention, she return to the court. At 30-30, Black blasted a return winner to set up a match point and they converted it for the win.  According to reports, Black was taken from the court in a wheelchair, but she was back tweeting a few hours later, so the illness apparently wasn't serious.

Their second round opponents will be the veteran team of  Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, who are the No. 7 seeds.

Boys USTA National champions Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka are on Thursday's schedule, facing Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain.

Top seeds and defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan lost their first round match today, falling to Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-3. No. 2 seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil also lost, to Great Britain's Dominic Inglot(Virginia) and Robert Lindstedt(Pepperdine).

In Thursday's singles action, eight Americans will attempt to join their five compatriots in the third round: John Isner(13), Jack Sock(28), Nicole Gibbs, Donald Young, Shelby Rogers, Varvara Lepchenko, Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek.

At the ITF Grade 1 in Canada yesterday, qualifier Gianni Ross advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over top seed and ITF world No. 7 Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile. Ross is playing his third round match against unseeded Nicola Kuhn of Germany tonight. Yunseong Chung of Korea, the No. 2 seed in the boys draw, also lost his first match, falling to Great Britain's Ryan Storrie in the second round. Kelly Chen lost tonight in the third round to top seed Katie Swan of Great Britain, so no US girl reached the quarterfinals.  Results can be found at the tournament website.