Rain Disrupts First Round of US Open Junior Qualifying; Isner, Stephens, Serena Advance; Finals Set at Grade 1 in Canada

The first day of qualifying for the US Open Junior Championships was not completed Friday at Cary Leeds Tennis in the Bronx, with light rain causing delays in the afternoon. Only 21 of the 32 matches on the schedule were completed, and winners of the 11 postponed first round matches will need to play again Saturday afternoon. [NOTE: Second round matches for those who did not play Friday were not played Saturday, but held over to Sunday]. This may delay the release of the draw Saturday evening, which is usually not done until all the qualifying is complete.

Chloe Beck[14], Savannah Broadus, Reese Brantmeier, Axel Nefve and Alex Bernard are the Americans who did not get to play their first round matches Friday.

Of the 11 Americans who did play Friday, four won their first round matches. Emma Jackson, who received a wild card when Broadus moved into the qualifying at the last minute, beat No. 16 seed Joanne Zuger of Switzerland 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, after serving for the match at 5-1 in the third.  Jackson will play top seed Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong for a place in the main draw.  Hurricane Tyra Black, the No. 2 seed, defeated Martina Biagianti of Italy 6-4, 6-4.  US girls losing their first round matches were Kacie Harvey[12] and wild cards Alexandra Yepifanova, Robin Montgomery and Katrina Scott.

The two US boys picking up victories were wild card Alex Lee and No. 15 seed Eliot Spizzirri.  Lee defeated No. 13 seed Davide Tortora of Italy 6-1, 7-5, while Spizzirri, down 5-3 when rain delayed the match, came back to defeat wild card Hikaru Shiraishi of Japan 7-6(2), 6-4.
The US boys losing in the first round today were Ronan Jachuck and wild cards Niroop Vallabhaneni and Eric Hahn.

I'll be heading out to the junior qualifying on Saturday, so check out my twitter updates from there.  There is live scoring available at the US Open website.

John Isner, Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens advanced to the fourth round with wins today. Sonya Kenin and Karolina Pliskova[8] of the Czech Republic were still playing as of 11 p.m. Friday night.

Friday’s third round matches involving Americans:

Women:
Sloane Stephens[3] def. Victoria Azarenka(BLR) 6-3, 6-4
Serena Williams[17] def. Venus Williams[16] 6-1, 6-2
Karolina Pliskova[8] def. Sonya Kenin 6-4, 7-6(2)

Men:
Dominic Thiem[9](AUT) def. Taylor Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-4
John Isner[11] def. Dusan Lajovic(SRB) 7-6(8), 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5

Saturday’s third round match featuring an American:
Madison Keys[14] vs Aleksandra Krunic(SRB)

The finals are set at the Grade 1 in Repentigny Canada, with both No. 1 seeds reaching the championship match.

Clara Tauson of Denmark will face No. 8 seed Victoriia Dema of Ukraine and Hugo Gaston of France will play No. 14 seed Rinky Hijikata of Australia. Hijikata ended the run of unseeded American Emilio Nava 6-3, 6-2.

In the all-French boys doubles final, top seeds Gaston and Clement Tabur defeated unseeded Arthur Cazaux and Harold Mayot 7-5, 6-2. Margaryta Bilokin of Ukraine and Naho Sato of Japan, the No. 2 seeds, defeated top seeds Tauson and Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2, 4-6, 10-4.