USTA National 18s Champions Tien and Ngounoue, NCAA Champion Quinn Fall in Straight Sets at US Open; A Dozen US Players Advance to Second Round; Seventeen Americans on Tuesday's Schedule

Monday's first day of play at the US Open was not kind to the American wild cards and qualifiers, with none of the eight in action picking up wins.

USTA National girls 18s champion Clervie Ngounoue had a rough start, losing the first ten games of her match with Daria Saville of Australia. Ngounoue didn't serve well, and her first serve, usually a strength, was a liability, with her percentage of first serve points won just 35. She also failed to convert any of her four break points, while Saville was 5 of 6. The unforced error count was also unbalanced, with Saville making just 11, while Ngounoue had 29. Whether it was nerves or just a bad day, Ngounoue will use the experience; one of her favorite sayings is "you win or you learn."

USTA National boys 18s champion Learner Tien was playing a seed in the US Open for the second time, but the profile of the match was much higher than when he took on No. 32 seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia last year. Playing No. 10 seed Frances Tiafoe, one of the most popular players on tour and a 2022 semifinalist in New York, on Arthur Ashe Stadium isn't the same as playing in front of a thousand people at Stowe Stadium, but Tien didn't seem uncomfortable.

Although he fell behind early, Tien was not overwhelmed by the speed or the pace, but Tiafoe displayed all his skill and variety and was especially effective coming into the net. When Tien was broken in the opening game of the second set, the likelihood of a long match diminished, but Tien got the break back immediately and held his own until 4-all, when he was broken again. Tiafoe was unable to serve out the set in the next game, but Tien again dropped serve at 5-all and Tiafoe closed out the set on his next opportunity.

Tiafoe had ten aces, and Tien had an uncharacteristically high number of double faults, six, which gave Tiafoe many more free points. Easy holds were the norm for Tiafoe, but I don't recall more than a couple for Tien and he eventually succumbed to the constant pressure Tiafoe was applying.

In his press conference after the match, Tiafoe brought up the point that it was a new experience for him today, not just Tien.

"Yeah, it's different. I mean, it's the first match I played where I'm supposed to win on Ashe. I've never played a match before where I was supposed to win on Ashe. Usually they have boxes for the higher seed on the left and the other, second-highest player on the right. My team has never even been on the left. Things like that was just funny to me.

I mean, I've never sat in the seat I sat today on Ashe. I'm always the first person to get on the court so I always take the far seat. There was a bunch of new experiences today, and ultimately it was fun to be out there.

It will be interesting to see whether Tien plays the Junior Championships next week (he is still on the acceptances and said at Kalamazoo that he might), or if Ngounoue takes a wild card into the Junior Championships. That may depend on how she does in women's doubles. 

NCAA champion Ethan Quinn lost to Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; The 19-year-old, who turned pro this summer and can now be seen in Prudential commercials, led 3-1 in the third set, but couldn't close it out. He had more winners than Zapata Miralles, 30 to 19, but had 52 unforced errors compared to 23 for the Spaniard.

Qualifiers Emilio Nava and Zachary Svajda both won a set from their seeded opponents, but did not advance. 

  

Monday's US Open first round results of Americans:

Casper Ruud[5](NOR) d. Emilio Nava[Q] 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)
Zhizhen Zhang(CHN) d. JJ Wolf 7-5, 7-5, 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-3
Marton Fucsovics(HUN) d. Sebastian Korda[31] 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5(1), 4-6,
Frances Tiafoe[10] d. Learner Tien[WC] 6-2, 7-5, 6-1
Tommy Paul[14] d. Stefano Travaglia[Q](ITA) 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina[21](ESP) d. Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-4, 6-6-42
Ben Shelton d. Pedro Cachin(ARG) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
Christopher Eubanks[28] d. Soonwoo Kwon(KOR) 6-3, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4
Taylor Fritz[9] d. Steve Johnson[WC] 6-2, 6-1, 6-2
Mackenzie McDonald d,  Felix Auger-Aliassime[15](CAN) 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Francisco Cerundolo[20](ARG) d. Zachary Svajda[Q] 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
Laslo Djere[32](SRB) d. Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
Bernabe Zapata Miralles(ESP) d. Ethan Quinn[WC] 6-4, 6-4, 6-3

Daria Saville(AUS) d. Clervie Ngounoue[WC] 6-0, 6-2
Lauren Davis d. Danka Kovinic(MNE) 6-2, 6-2
Bernarda Pera d. Veronika Kudermetova[16](RUS) 7-5, 6-4
Jennifer Brady d. Kimberly Birrell[LL](AUS) 6-3, 7-6(4)
Danielle Collins d. Linda Fruhvirtova(CZE) 6-2, 6-0
Coco Gauff[6] d. Laura Siegemund[Q](GER) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
Sorana Cirstea[30](ROU) d. Kayla Day[WC] 6-2, 6-3
Magdalena Frech(POL) d. Emma Navarro 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-2
Taylor Townsend d. Varvara Gracheva(FRA) 6-4, 6-2
Beatriz Haddad Maia[19](BRA) d. Sloane Stephens 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
Xinyu Wang(CHN) d. Katie Volynets[Q] 6-3, 6-4

Tuesday's schedule features 17 Americans in action: four men and 13 women. There are nine American wild cards/qualifiers on the schedule tomorrow, including UNC senior Fiona Crawley and Alex Michelsen, who turned 19 Friday and was in Tien's box throughout his match today. At least a couple of wins from that group would be welcome after all of Monday's losses.

Tuesday's first round US Open matches featuring Americans:

Nicolas Moreno De Alboran[Q] v Lorenzo Sonego(ITA)
Alex Michelsen[WC] v Albert Ramos-Vinolas(ESP)
Michael Mmoh[WC] v Karen Khachanov[11](RUS)
John Isner[WC] v Facundo Diaz Acosta(ARG)

Peyton Stearns v Viktoriya Tomova(BUL)
Claire Liu v Liudmila Samsonova[14](RUS)
Madison Keys[17] v Arantxa Rus(NED)
Jessica Pegula[3] v Camila Giorgi(ITA)
Fiona Crawley[Q] v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)
Madison Brengle v Linda Noskova(CZE)
Ashlyn Krueger[WC] v Marie Bouzkova[31](CZE)
Robin Montgomery[WC] v Eva Lys[Q]
Alycia Parks v Daria Kasatkina[13](RUS)
Sofia Kenin v Ana Bogdan(ROU)
Venus Williams[WC] v Paula Badosa(ESP)
Sachia Vickery[Q] v Donna Vekic[21](CRO)
Caroline Dolehide v Clara Burel(FRA)