Tiafoe and Sandgren Only US Men to Advance on Hot Day Two of US Open, Qualifier Di Lorenzo Gets First Slam Victory; Nava Sole American Junior Reaching Third Round at ITF Grade 1 in Canada
Day Two of the US Open was a hot one, with temperatures in the mid-90s and the heat index over 100. The women received the WTA Tour's standard 10-minute break between the second and third sets when the heat threshold is reached, but the men generally do not get one. The USTA announced today that it would, on advice from the tournament's medical staff, institute a break for the men today after the third set, but that didn't help the six men who retired from their matches today. Not all were due to heat issues, but the oppressive playing conditions certainly wouldn't help.
None of the Americans who lost today retired, but the losses piled up anyway, with four of the men's wild cards going out, leaving the American men's wild cards 0-5 in the first round.
Jenson Brooksby, the Kalamazoo 18s champion, started well against John Millman of Australia, but the match got less competitive as it continued, with Millman coasting to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 win.
Frances Tiafoe was one of the bright spots of the day, beating No. 29 seed Adrian Mannarino of France 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in front of a supportive crowd on the Grandstand. Tennys Sandgren was the only other US man to advance, defeating Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Taylor Townsend and wild card Amanda Anisimova had a close battle, with Townsend coming back for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win. Anisimova, who is coming back from a foot fracture she suffered in March, has played only three tournaments since her return, and she looked a few matches short of top form. Townsend had trouble converting break points in the first two sets and managed only 4 of 16 overall, but in the third set she got a break for a 4-2 lead and stayed in front, closing out the match with a hold at love for her first US Open main draw win.
In the other all-US match, qualifier Francesca Di Lorenzo defeated Christina McHale 6-1, 7-6(1) to earn her first slam win in her first slam main draw appearance. The 21-year-old, who turned pro after her sophomore year at Ohio State last year, will play No. 13 seed and Cincinnati champion Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the second round Thursday. Bernarda Pera also posted a victory today, defeating Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6(6), 6-4.
Tuesday’s first round matches featuring Americans:
Women: (4-6)
Madison Keys[14] def. Pauline Parmentier(FRA) 6-4, 6-4
Kirsten Flipkens(BEL) def. Coco Vandeweghe[24] 6-3, 7-6(3)
Aryna Sabalenka[26](BLR) def. Danielle Collins 6-0, 4-6, 6-4
Carla Suarez Navarro[30](ESP) def. Nicole Gibbs[Q] 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
Bernarda Pera def. Yulia Putintseva(KAZ) 7-6(6) 6-4
Taylor Townsend def. Amanda Anisimova[WC] 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Sorana Cirstea(ROU) def. Alison Riske 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
Francesca Di Lorenzo[Q] def. Christina McHale 6-1, 7-6(1)
Men (2-5):
Fabio Fognini[14](ITA) def. Michael Mmoh[WC] 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(4)
Frances Tiafoe def. Adrian Mannarino[29](FRA) 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
John Millman(AUS) def. Jenson Brooksby[WC] 6-4, 6-2, 6-0
Mikhail Kukushkin(KAZ) def. Noah Rubin[WC] 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(3)
Tennys Sandgren def. Viktor Troicki(SRB) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Jan-Lennard Struff(GER) def. Tim Smyczek[WC] 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-3
Robin Haase(NED) def. Mackenzie McDonald 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3
Wednesday’s second round matches featuring Americans:
WOMEN:
Sloane Stephens[3] vs Anhelina Kalinina[Q](UKR)
Serena Williams[17] vs Carina Witthoeft(GER)
Venus Williams[16] vs Camila Giorgia(ITA)
Sonya Kenin vs Maria Sakkari[32](GRE)
Vania King vs Rebecca Peterson(SWE)
Claire Liu[WC] vs Anastasija Sevastova[19](LAT)
MEN:
Denis Kudla vs Juan Martin del Potro[3](ARG)
Jack Sock[18] vs Nikoloz Basilashvili(GEO)
John Isner[11] vs Nicolas Jarry(CHI)
Steve Johnson vs Dominic Thiem[9](AUT)
Taylor Fritz vs Jason Kubler[WC](AUS)
Doubles play for both men and women begins on Wednesday, with both USTA National 18s champions in action.
Girls winners Whitney Osuigwe and Caty McNally play Monique Adamczak of Australia and Desirae Krawczyk, the former Arizona State standout. Boys winners Patrick Kypson and DJ Thomas will take on No. 10 seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez of Spain.
Not many Americans made the trip to Repentigny Canada for the ITF Grade 1, and only one remains in singles after the completion of the second round: unseeded Emilio Nava. Nava defeated No. 13 seed Jonas Forejtek of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3 to reach the third round. Dalayna Hewitt[13], Drew Baird[9] and Tristan Boyer[4] all lost their first matches after receiving byes in the first round.
3 comments:
Great to see the US men and women with a solid second day performance at the US Open!
A solid 6-11 on day two, clearly the investment in facilities such as the USTA Training Center, and Louis Armstrong Stadium (how many $100's of millions of dollars??) is translating into results much sooner than one could anticipate! Looking forward to the US regaining the leadership in world tennis! Future greats such as Taylor Townsend, Tennys Sandgren, and Francis Tiafoe will soon become household names around the world. I feel a men's grand slam champion is coming near, the drought since 2003 will soon come to an end, it's only been 15 years, less than a generation!
I finally figured out what was happening with the comments. Sometime in July (maybe with that EU Privacy Law change), I stopped getting notifications of comments. They went into an "awaiting moderation" tab and have been sitting there since. When I did my test, the comment posted without going there, so I thought everything was fine. There are a lot of spam comments to weed out, but I am trying to go through them and post them now. Really sorry to have missed Brent's Kalamazoo predictions, especially.
No worries! Was so bummed to see Patrick McEnroe's comments yesterday suggesting they yank the main draw wild card from the KZoo winner. What is he talking about? It is sad enough already that they need to offer that to produce a full field. The short-sighted nature of playing a one-of-52 weeks run-of-the-mill Futures versus playing for your country's national championship will never make sense to me. But more kids will talk themselves into it without the wild card. The wild card has great tradition and history. Protect the wild card!
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