Gauff Comes Back to Win in US Open Debut; Ahn, Di Lorenzo Advance to Second Round; Bernard Beats Top Seed at Repentigny ITF Grade 1

Coco Gauff faced a different kind of challenge in her opening match of the US Open when compared to round 1 at Wimbledon. In London, the 15-year-old Floridian had qualified and faced five-time champion Venus Williams, 24 years her senior, in her first match. At the US Open, Gauff received a wild card into the main draw, and was drawn against 18-year-old Anastasia Potapova of Russia, who, like Gauff was a former ITF Junior World No. 1.

Gauff looked out of sync at the beginning, had 11 double faults, and let a 4-1 lead slip away in the third set, but she managed to come up big when mattered, breaking Potapova in the final game of the match. Next up for Gauff on Thursday is qualifier Timea Babos of Hungary, who advanced when No. 28 seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain retired after Babos won the first set 6-2.

USTA National 18s champion Katie Volynets kept No. 15 seed Bianca Andreescu out on the court for 90 minutes, but the 19-year-old Canadian, who had a pro-Canada crowd solidly behind her, claimed a 6-2, 6-4 victory. Volynets, 17, made Andreescu earn the win, although she does not yet have the arsenal that Andreescu displayed, especially when it comes to moving forward.

Former Ohio State star Francesca Di Lorenzo told me back in January, when she was just returning from plantar fasciitis, that she would like to finish the year in the WTA Top 130, and with her current ranking a career-high of 125, she is on her way to achieving that. Today she defeated WTA No. 51 Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 7-6(4), 6-2, winning the last six points of the first set tiebreaker, and has now reached the second round of the US Open for the second straight year. She plays No. 26 seed Julia Goerges of Germany Thursday.

Another former college star had a memorable evening in New York, with Stanford's Kristie Ahn eliminating 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 7-5, 6-2. It is Ahn's first slam victory in four attempts, with her first appearance way back in 2008, when she was a 16-year-old qualifier at the US Open. At the same tournament where I spoke to Di Lorenzo, the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, I talked to Ahn about her new training scenario, her goals and why she's de-emphasized making the Top 100.

Tuesday's first round singles matches featuring Americans:

WOMEN: (6-5)
Anna Kalinskaya[Q](RUS) d. Sloane Stephens[11] 6-3, 6-4
Alison Riske d. Garbine Muguruza[24](ESP) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
Simona Halep[4](ROU) d. Nicole Gibbs[LL] 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
Coco Gauff[WC] d. Anastasia Potapova(RUS) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
Kristie Ahn[WC] d. Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS) 7-5, 6-2
Alize Cornet(FRA) d. Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-3
Taylor Townsend[Q] d. Kateryna Kozlova(UKR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Danielle Collins d. Polona Hercog(SLO) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Bianca Andreescu[15](CAN) d. Katie Volynets[WC] 6-2, 6-4
Yulia Putintseva(KAZ) d. Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-3
Francesca Di Lorenzo[WC] d. Veronika Kudermetova(RUS) 7-6(4), 6-2

MEN: (3-3)
John Isner[14] d. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez(ESP) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Nick Kyrgios[28](AUS) d. Steve Johnson 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-4
Tennys Sandgren d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA) 1-6, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-5
Hyeon Chung[Q](KOR) d. Ernesto Escobedo[WC] 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2
Gilles Simon(FRA) d. Bjorn Fratangelo[WC] 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, 7-5
Frances Tiafoe d. Ivo Karlovic(CRO) 6-2, 6-3, 1-2 ret.

Wednesday's second round singles matches featuring Americans:

WOMEN:
Serena Williams[8] v Caty McNally[WC]
Venus Williams v Eline Svitolins[5](UKR)
Madison Keys[10] v Lin Zhu(CHN)
Lauren Davis v Ashleigh Barty[2](AUS)
Sonya Kenin[20] v Laura Siegemund(GER)

MEN:
Bradley Klahn v Kei Nishikori[7](JPN)
Denis Kudla v Dusan Lajovic[27](SRB)
Reilly Opelka v Dominik Koepfer[Q](GER)
Jenson Brooksby[Q] v Nikoloz Basilashvili[17](GEO)

Doubles play begins on Wednesday, with USTA National 18s girls champions Abigail Forbes and Alexa Noel on the schedule. They will play Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain on Court 12.  Kalamazoo 18s champions Martin Damm and Toby Kodat's opponents are fellow American wild cards Tim Smyczek and Mitchell Krueger, although they are not on Wednesday's schedule. NCAA champions Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith from UCLA will play Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania and Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina in the first round, but they too are not yet scheduled.

The women's doubles draw is here, the men's doubles draw is here, and the mixed doubles draw is here.

The surprises have continued at the ITF Grade 1 in Repentigny Canada, with Kalamazoo 16s champion Alex Bernard taking out top seed Harold Mayot of France 7-6(5), 6-2. Mayot is No. 8 in the ITF World Junior rankings, while Bernard is 146. Late last night No. 2 seed Emilio Nava lost to wild card Joshua Lapadat of Canada 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Nava had not played since the end of June due to injury. Bernard and No. 8 seed Eliot Spizzirri are the only two Americans left in singles.

No. 5 seed Kamilla Bartone of Latvia, who won last week's Grade 1 in College Park, lost her second round match to wild card Marina Stakusic of Canada 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.