Eight More Americans Advance to Second Round at French Open; Men's and Women's Doubles Draws Released; Next Month's Men's $15K in Vero Beach Switches to UTR $10K

After a damp start to Day Two, all 51 matches on the French Open schedule were completed, although the last one didn't finish until after midnight, a first in Paris, where they have a roof and lights for the first time this year.

American women picked up four victories, as did American men, with Christina McHale and Tennys Sandgren picking up wins over seeds.

The day started with qualifier Jack Sock's routine 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win over Reilly Opelka, with the weather conditions taking some of the juice from the Opelka serve, although Sock did return quite well. Opelka ended up with 16 aces, but he faced 15 break points, with Sock converting five, while he was only broken once in the match. Sock faces US Open champion Dominic Thiem, the No. 3 seed, in the second round.

Tommy Paul, the 2015 French Open boys champion, posted his first main draw win at Roland Garros, beating Australian James Duckworth 62, 63, 62 and Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) also earned his first main draw win in Paris, beating qualifier Steven Diez of Canada 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. But Sandgren(Tennessee) got the most dramatic win of the day, saving two match points to defeat No. 29 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-5, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6(1), 11-9. Sandgren, who, like Paul and McDonald had not won a main draw match at the French Open, dug out of a 15-40 hole serving at 7-8 in the fifth set. He then broke Hurkacz for a 10-9 lead, went up 40-0 serving for the match only to see that lead evaporate, and Sandgren had to save two break points before finally closing out the win in four hours and 34 minutes.

MacDonald and Sandgren were the only two former college players to earn victories on Monday.

Christina McHale had an impressive win over No. 22 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4. She gets Patricia Tig of Romania in the second round.

Several notable results from teenagers today, with 2018 ITF World Junior champion Clara Burel, a French wild card getting her best win in the post-midnight match with a 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3 decision over WTA No. 67 Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands. Burel, who struggled with injury most of 2019, will face another 19-year-old, Kaja Juvan of Slovenia, in the second round, after Juvan defeated No. 18 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 6-3. That is a rematch of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games gold medal match, which Juvan won 7-5, 6-4.  Eighteen-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez, the 2019 French Open girls champion, overcame a slow start to beat No. 31 seed Magda Linette of Poland 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. 

Monday’s French Open first round results for Americans:

Serena Williams[6] d. Kristie Ahn 76(2), 60

Shuai Zhang(CHN) d. Madison Keys[12] 63, 76(2)

Christina McHale d. Karolina Muchova(CZE)[22] 62, 64

Katerina Siniakova(CZE) d. Lauren Davis 76(5), 62

Amanda Anisimova[25] d. Tamara Korpatsch(GER) 62, 60

Bernarda Pera d. Cici Bellis 76(3), 61

Tommy Paul d. James Duckworth(AUS) 62, 63, 62

Mackenzie McDonald d. Steven Diez(CAN)[Q] 46, 63, 63, 64

Jack Sock[Q] d. Reilly Opelka 64, 64, 63

Jan-Lennard Struff(GER)[30] d. Frances Tiafoe  36, 76(5), 63, 67(2), 63

Tennys Sandgren d. Hubert Hurkacz(POL)[29] 75, 26, 46, 76(1), 11-9

Pierre-Hugues Herbert(FRA) d. Michael Mmoh[Q] 63, 62, 63

Twenty-two of the 32 Americans in the draws have finished their first round matches, with the remaining 10 on Tuesday's schedule.

Tuesday’s French Open first round matches featuring Americans:

Sam Querrey v Andrey Rublev(RUS)[13]

Marcos Giron v Quentin Halys(FRA)[WC]

Steve Johnson v Roberto Carballes Baena(ESP)

Sofia Kenin[4] v Liudmila Samsonova(RUS)

Jessica Pegula v Aryna Sabalenka(BLR)[8]

Jennifer Brady[21] v Clara Tauson(DEN)[Q]

Danielle Collins v Monica Niculescu(ROU)[Q]

Alison Riske[19] v Julia Goerges(GER)

Madison Brengle v Jelena Ostapenko(LAT)

Sloane Stephens[29] v Vitalia Diatchenko(RUS)

Doubles draws were released today, with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic and Su-Wei Hsieh of China the top women's seeds, and Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia the top men's seeds. 

The two all-US women's teams seeded are No. 9 Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands and No. 16 Coco Gauff and Caty McNally. No all-US men's teams are seeded. Notable that Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Sock, the 2014 Wimbledon men's doubles champions, have reunited for this event.

I heard from the USTA today that the $15,000 Men's Pro Circuit event in Vero Beach was off the ITF World Tennis Tour schedule, then heard this evening that it was still happening, but rather as a $10,000 UTR Prize Money event. These are the details from tournament organizer Randy Walker:

We did a pivot today with our Vero Beach M15 event, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships. It will still be held October 19-25 at The Boulevard tennis club in Vero Beach, Florida but will be a $10,000 UTR Open Prize Money event. This replaces the original ITF World Tennis Tour event for this year.

The first prize at the event will be $3,000 for the singles winner of the tournament, while the singles runner-up will earn $1,500. Losing semifinalists will earn $750 while losing quarterfinalists will earn $500.

Doubles winners will split $1,500 while the runners-up will split $500.

Players can enter on the MyUTR website here https://app.myutr.com/events/30593?_ref=randywal270

Singles entries are $90 and doubles entries are $120 per team. Entries close on Thursday, October 15 at Noon eastern time. It is an open sign-up so it’s a great opportunity for some players to get some great match-play.

COVID-19 safety protocols will be implemented at the event and seating for fans will be limited to approximately 35 percent. There will be no morning matches at this event. The earliest start time would be Noon.

We won’t sell daily tickets, only have our sponsors, box seat holders and a select number of club members daily allowed to attend, with new socially distanced seating. Normally, we get like 400 fans per day for our event. The event benefits the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, which helps at-risk children in Indian River County, Florida learn to have active and healthy lifestyles (which is even more important now in the age of COVID).