Americans Out of Western & Southern Open Singles, Four Advance to Doubles Semifinals; More US Open Withdrawals on Eve of Draw; Former Georgia, Cal Player Campbell Johnson Dies

With Serena Williams loss last night, only two Americans remained in singles heading into today's Western & Southern Open quarterfinals, and both Jessica Pegula and Reilly Opelka failed in their attempts to reach the semifinals. Pegula, playing in her sixth match in seven days, lost to No. 14 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-1, 6-3, and Opelka, playing in his first Masters quarterfinal, retired leading 6-5 in the first set against No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Opelka's right knee was heavily taped at the time of his retirement; the ESPN announcing crew were hopeful that the retirement was precautionary, but Opelka has struggled with injuries throughout his career.

Thursday's women's semifinals will feature Mertens against No. 4 seed Naomi Osaka and No. 8 seed Johanna Konta against unseeded Victoria Azarenka.

Embed from Getty Images

The men's semifinals, also Thursday, are top seed Novak Djokovic against No. 8 seed Roberto Bautista Agut and Tsitsipas versus the winner of tonight's match between Milos Raonic and Filip Krajinovic. Bautista Agut(pictured above) took out defending champion Daniil Medvedev, seeded No. 3, by a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 score.

While Americans were eliminated in singles today, four US players have reached the doubles semifinals. In women's doubles, Nicole Melichar and her Chinese partner Yifan Xu, who are the No. 2 seeds, will play the unseeded team of Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia and Iga Swiatek of Poland for a spot in the final. Defending champions Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Andreja Klepac of Slovakia, the No. 8 seeds, will face No. 3 seeds Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and  Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands.

Former collegians make up the majority of those still in men's doubles, including unseeded Steve Johnson(USC) and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M), who played together last month for the Orange County Breakers in World Team Tennis competition. Johnson and Krajicek, who have yet to drop a set, will face unseeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain and Alex De Minaur of Australia in Thursday's semifinals. Unseeded Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski(LSU), who beat top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the first round, will play No. 3 seeds Rajeev Ram(Illinois) and Great Britain's Joe Salisbury(Memphis) in the other men's semifinal.

Thursday's schedule is here, with ESPN2 covering the singles beginning at 11 a.m. and Tennis Channel broadcasting the doubles at noon. The results from today can be found here. 

The US Open draws are set to be revealed at noon Thursday. Because there is no qualifying this year, we will know all first round matchups immediately.

There were three more US Open withdrawals today, with Kei Nishikori, who is recovering from Covid-19, bowing out on the men's side, allowing Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia to move into the main draw. Tamara Zidansek and Polona Hercog, both of Slovenia, are out of the women's draw, with Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium moving into the main draw. That makes 24 of the WTA Top 100 not in the field, while just 10 of the ATP Top 100 are not playing. 

The latest women's entry list is here; the latest men's entry list is here.

I received an email today informing me of the death of 28-year-old Campbell Johnson, a former University of Georgia player who transferred to Cal after his sophomore year and completed his eligibility in Berkeley in 2014. I haven't any details on his death other than this link from the funeral home, where condolence messages can be posted. As someone who covered Johnson throughout his junior career, I offer my deepest sympathy to his friends and family.