International Hard Court Recap; Eight More Americans Advance to Second Round at US Open; Tiafoe, Loeb Lose

My recap of last week's ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships, with singles titles for Anna Kalinskaya of Russia and Felix Auger Aliassime of Canada is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Eight US players picked up wins today at the US Open--five men and three women--with 19 the total number into the second round.

No. 13 seed John Isner and No. 28 seed Jack Sock posted routine wins, with Donald Young recording an impressive upset, coming from two sets down to defeat No. 11 seed Gilles Simon of France 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.  Wild Card Austin Krajicek, the only men's wild card (not including Lleyton Hewitt) to advance to the second round, also posted a comeback in his 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(6), 7-6(1) win over Colombia's Santiago Giraldo, his first win at a slam.

Wild card Nicole Gibbs, who reached the third round last year at the US Open, won the final five games of her match with Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain to earn a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory.  The crowd on court 7 looked sparse when I watched the last game on the live stream, but Gibbs credited them for helping her advance, calling them "small but mighty" on twitter. Gibbs, who won the NCAA singles title twice and also took an NCAA doubles title, showed some nice touch at the net on match point.

FIRST ROUND WINS US WOMEN:
Vera Lepchenko def. Kirsten Flipkens BEL 6-1, 6-1
WC Nicole Gibbs def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Q Shelby Rogers def. WC Sachia Vickery 6-2, 6-2

FIRST ROUND WINS US MEN:
John Isner (13) def. Malek Jaziri TUN 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Donald Young def. Gilles Simon(11) FRA 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
WC Austin Krajicek def. Santiago Giraldo COL 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(6), 7-6(1)
Jack Sock(28) def. Victor Estrella Burgos DOM 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
Rajeev Ram def. WC Ryan Harrison 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-1

A total of six wild cards lost on Tuesday, including NCAA champion Jamie Loeb, who fell to No. 4 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2, 6-0.  Although the score line suggests a rout, Loeb was in nearly every rally, as USTA coach Kathy Rinaldi mentioned in her commentary on the ESPN live stream. But playing your first WTA level match on Arthur Ashe Stadium against a former world No. 1 and last year's finalist is a tough task, and Loeb will undoubtedly learn from it. Now a pro, and wearing Fila clothing after spending her junior career in Nike, Loeb is scheduled to compete in next week's American Collegiate Invitational.

Kalamazoo champion Frances Tiafoe had his chances against No. 22 seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia, and had the wholehearted support of a large Court 11 crowd, but ended up on the wrong end of a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 score.  Troicki served too well, with 17 aces, and hit 47 winners with just 19 unforced errors, with his volleys particularly impressive.

Of the ten teenagers in the men's draw, just two advanced to to the second round: 19-year-old Hyeon Chung of Korea, who breezed past James Duckworth of Australia 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 and 19-year-old Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who needed nearly three and a half hours to beat fellow qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 2-6, 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-2.

FIRST ROUND LOSSES US WOMEN:
Petra Cetkovska CZE def. Christina McHale 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Caroline Wozniacki (4) DEN def. WC Jamie Loeb 6-2, 6-0
Q Johanna Konta GBR def. WC Louisa Chirico 6-3, 6-0

FIRST ROUND LOSSES US MEN:
Tomas Berdych (6) CZE def. WC Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
Q Jurgen Melzer AUT def. Denis Kudla 6-3, 7-5, 6-1
Viktor Troicki (22) SRB def. WC Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 6-4, 6-3
Lukas Rozol CZE def. WC Jared Donaldson 7-6(7), 6-0, 7-6(4)
Nicolas Mahut FRA def. Sam Querrey 7-5, 7-6(6), 7-5

Wednesday's schedule features three all-American matchups, all in the women's draw.

Wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands will play CoCo Vandeweghe, Madison Brengle meets qualifier Anna Tatishvili and Irina Falconi faces Venus Williams(23) in the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Qualifier Jessica Pegula plays Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, Serena Williams(1) faces Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, Lauren Davis meets No. 13 seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Madison Keys(19) opens the day session on Ashe against Tereza Smitkova.

Mardy Fish is the only US man left in the top half of the draw; he plays No. 18 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

USTA Girls 18s champions Tornado Alicia Black and Ingrid Neel will play their first round women's doubles match on Wednesday against
Danka Kovinic of Montenegro and Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

The wild card team of Tommy Paul and Deiton Baughman will play
the Brazilian team of Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Demoliner, and the mixed doubles wild card team of Taylor Fritz and Claire Liu are up against No. 4 seeds Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India.