Volynets Among Four Women's Wild Cards to Advance to Western & Southern Open Final Round of Qualifying; Former College Stars Advance in Men's Qualifying; Main Draws Released with Djokovic and Pliskova Top Seeds

The first round of qualifying for the Western & Southern Open is not quite complete, but several of the US women who received wild cards picked up the best wins of their careers today at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in New York. 

Eighteen-year-old wild card Katie Volynets, who a year ago won the USTA National 18s title and with it a US Open main draw wild card, earned her first WTA Top 100 victory today, beating No. 91 Monica Puig[19] 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3. Volynets trailed 6-4, 5-2, with Puig serving for the match both at 5-2 and 5-4, but Puig couldn't get to match point either time. Volynets will play No. 12 seed Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium Friday for a place in the main draw.

Twenty-year-old Ann Li had already collected two WTA Top 100 wins in the past 12 months, but she earned her best win today, beating No. 66 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour. Li faces No. 15 seed Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia Friday for a place in the main draw.

The US men's wild cards found success as well, with Mackenzie McDonald and JJ Wolf getting straight-set wins and Sebastian Korda closing out the long day with a win over No. 15 seed Attila Balazs of Hungary.

Wolf was the first player to win an ATP match since the pandemic, beating No. 11 seed Egor Gerasimov of Belarus 6-3, 6-1 in 53 minutes. Like Li, Wolf has already recorded his first ATP Top 100 wins--he's 22-4 since last November--but Gerasimov, at 69, is the best win ranking-wise of the former Ohio State star's career. Wolf faces Jaume Munar of Spain for a place in the main draw.

Former UCLA Bruin McDonald, who is coming back from an injury and has seen his ranking fall to 271, defeated No. 24 seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan 7-6(3), 6-3 to advance to a meeting with another former college star, Dominik Koepfer(Tulane) of Germany, who beat No. 6 seed Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina 6-5, 7-6(0).  Korda, who turned 20 last month, will face top seed Gilles Simon of France for a place in the main draw. Marcos Giron also defeated a seed to advance to the final round of qualifying, earning a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 19 Laslo Djere of Serbia. He will play Gregoire Barrere of France in the final round of qualifying.

The schedule for Friday's matches is available here.

Western & Southern Open First Round Qualifying, August 20, 2020

Results of US men:

Pedro Martinez(ESP) d. Steve Johnson[6] 63, 67(4), 62

Marton Fucsovics[21](HUN) d. Brandon Nakashima[WC] 62, 64

JJ Wolf[WC] d. Egor Gerasimov[11](BEL) 63, 61

Aljaz Bedene[4](SLO) d. Denis Kudla 64, 75

Mackenzie McDonald[WC] d. Yuichi Sugita[24](JPN) 76(3), 63

Marcos Giron d. Laslo Djere[19](SRB) 62, 62

Jordan Thompson[7](AUS) d. Michael Mmoh[WC] 62, 76(2)

Sebastian Korda[WC] d. Attila Balazs[15](HUN) 64, 46, 63

Results of US women:

Liudmila Samsonova(RUS) d. Lauren Davis[3] 64, 61

Kristie Ahn[24] d. Anna-Lena Friedsam(GER) 75, 60

Jessica Pegula[14] d. Varvara Gracheva(RUS) 75, 76(8)

Caroline Dolehide[WC] d. Jasmine Paolini[23](ITA) 63, 26, 65

Christina McHale[18] d. Usue Arconada[WC] 62, 26, 64

Cici Bellis[WC] d. Madison Brengle[13]  63, 76(4)

Katie Volynets[WC] d. Monica Puig[19](PUR) 46, 76(4), 63

Shelby Rogers[22] d. Margarita Gasparyan(RUS) 63, 76(3)

Ann Li[WC] d. Zarina Diyas[4](KAZ) 61, 63

Paula Badosa[21](ESP) d. Francesca Di Lorenzo 64, 63

Sorana Cirstea[10](ROU) d. Robin Montgomery[WC] 61, 64

Astra Sharma(AUS) d. Taylor Townsend[9] 62, 60

All qualifying results from Thursday are here.

The main draws were released this evening, with seven US men and 12 US women competing for the title (plus those who qualify of course). Only one US man is seeded: No. 16 John Isner, while four US women are seeded: Alison Riske[11], Madison Keys[7], Serena Williams[3] and Sofia Kenin[2]. The top 8 seeds in both the men's and women's main draws receive byes.  Novak Djokovic is the top men's seed and Karolina Pliskova is the top women's seed.

Below are the first round matchups for American players. I will also include this list on Friday, when the qualifiers have been determined and placed in the draw.

First round W&S US Men: 

Tommy Paul[WC] v Q

Tennys Sandgren[WC] v Lorenzo Sonego(ITA)

Taylor Fritz v Q

Reilly Opelka v Q

John Isner[16] v Hubert Hurkacz(POL)

Frances Tiafoe[WC]  v Andy Murray[WC](GBR)

Sam Querrey v Milos Raonic(CAN)

First round W&S US Women: 

Alison Riske[11] v Amanda Anisimova

Jennifer Brady v Kim Clijsters[WC](BEL)

Bernarda Pera v Heather Watson(GBR)

Venus Williams[WC] v Dayana Yastremska(UKR)

Danielle Collins v Q

Coco Gauff v Maria Sakkari[13](GRE)

Serena Williams[3] bye

Madison Keys[7] bye

Sloane Stephens[WC] v Caroline Garcia(FRA)

Caty McNally[WC] v Alize Cornet(FRA)

Sofia Kenin[2] bye