The doubles tournaments got underway at the US Open on Day 3, seeing action from the Men's, Women's, and Mixed Doubles draws. Star players, seeds, young guns, singles specialists, and plenty of Americans all took the court as they began their journey towards a grand slam title.
On the men's side, most of the matches went as expected with the majority of the favorites getting wins. The seeded teams of Matkowski/Zimonjic, Bopanna/Mergea, Murray/Peers, Nestor/Roger-Vasselin, Herbert/Mahut, and Cabal/Farah each got straight sets wins to get their biggest tournament of the year started on the right path. Meanwhile, three seeded teams were disappointed as Pospisil/Sock were upended by the team of Mayer/Sousa, while the No. 1 seeds, the Bryan brothers, and the No. 2 seeds, Dodig/Melo, were beaten. All three matches took three very tight sets to decide a winner.
There were seven all-American teams in action with the teams of Johnson/Querrey and Russell/Young getting the lone wins. Kudla/Smyczek, Baughman/Paul, Fratangelo/Novikov, and Krajicek/Monroe all exited after their first round matches. In fairness, none of these four teams were expected to win, but each of them should be excited to have garnered some experience at the US Open. The Bryan brothers, as mentioned earlier, were taken down by Johnson/Querrey. Meanwhile, the winners of the US Open National Playoff, Peralta/Seeberger, gave it a valiant effort, but eventually lost in three sets to Giraldo/Junaid, two very experienced players.
Winners not mentioned above: Bellucci/Demoliner, Chardy/Kubot, Bury/Istomin, Pavic/Venus, Fyrstenburg/Gonzalez, and Muller/Qureshi.
On the women's side, it was more of the same as seeded teams went 7-0 on the day. The teams of Dellacqua/Shvedova, Garcia/Srebotnik, Hlavackova/Hradecka, Muguruza/Suarez Navarro, Chan/Chan, Krajicek/Strycova, and Medina Garrigues/Parra Santonja all won with relative ease.
All-American teams went 3-1 on the day, with Gibbs/Townsend, Muhammad/Sanchez, and Black/Neel getting wins, while the team of Lepchenko/Riske bowed out to the No. 7 seeds Hlavackova/Hradecka. Meanwhile, another American, Vania King, teamed up with Saisai Zheng to get a win in a third set tiebreaker.
Singles star Jelena Jankovic teamed up with fellow Serbian Aleksandra Krunic to get an easy straight sets victory.
Winners not mentioned above: Niculescu/Savchuk, Kichenok/Kichenok, Barthel/Siegemund, Govortsova/Tsurenko, and Begu/Olaru.
The Mixed Doubles draw got under way but only with two matches on the schedule. The juniors team of Claire Liu and Taylor Fritz was on display, but were given the extremely difficult draw of Martina Hingis and Leander Paes losing 6-2 6-2. The other team on display was the US Open National Playoff winners Perianu/Daescu, who also received a tough draw. Anastasia Rodionova and Max Mirnyi got the win against them in straights 6-2 6-4.
More doubles action will take place on Day 4 with 9 men's doubles matches, 14 women's doubles matches, and 9 mixed doubles matches.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Retirements Plague the Men's Draw, Young Wins Match of the Tournament
Through one round at the US Open, history has already been made. An Open Era record 10 retirements in one round have occurred so far, including big names like Gael Monfils, Alex Dolgopolov, Marcos Baghdatis, and Ernests Gulbis. Seeing a player get hurt is never a good thing, especially at this tournament as it is what many players have worked for all year long. Also on tap in Day 2 was the massive victory from Donald Young, coming back from two sets and a break down to beat No. 11 seed Gilles Simon in the opening round.
Florian Mayer and Radek Stepanek were two of the players forced to retire on Day 1, which may not come as a surprise to many due to their histories with injuries as Mayer and Stepanek have been forced to miss a lot of time from the tour in recent months. Each player made it through three sets, but was forced to pull the plug in the fourth set of their respective matches, giving Martin Klizan and Marsel Ilhan victories through to the second round.
Retirements that were more of a surprise on Day 1 came from Yen-Hsun Lu, Pablo Andujar, Dolgopolov, and Monfils. Lu was unable to get anything going in his match as he retired down two sets to love and 3-0 in the third set. Andujar and Dolgopolov each retired after the end of sets, while Monfils called it quits two points away from dropping a set. Andujar's match was level at two sets all, while Dolgopolov and, essentially, Monfils were down two sets to one.
Day 2 saw more of the same as Alex Nedovyesov, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Gullbis, and Baghdatis each were unable to make it through their matches. Kokkinakis had battled Richard Gasquet at a very high level of play for the majority of four sets, but succumbed to cramps at the end of the fourth. Unable to move or hit serves effectively, the Australian was forced to retire after going down a break in the fifth set. Gulbis and Nedovyesov both retired in the third sets of their matches, with Gulbis' match even at one set all and Nedovyesov down two sets to love. Baghdatis was only three games from losing when he ended his match.
Another big headline was made at the US Open on Day 2, though, by American Donald Young. In his 11th appearance at the tournament, Young won his first match in which he had to come back from two sets to love down. After breaking in the opening game of the match, Young was unable to find a rhythm in the opening two sets, only winning six games total. From that point on, though, he was able to battle through the veteran from France, pulling off arguable the best win of his career. The five set comeback was full of impressive groundstrokes, unbelievable defense, and tons of emotion from the American, as he soared into the second round. His next opponent will be Aljaz Bedene, who benefitted from the retirement of Ernests Gulbis.
With nine retirements, nine five-set matches, and a few seeds being upset highlighting the first round of the US Open on the men's side, surely there will be many more unexpected events occurring throughout the rest of the tournament.
Florian Mayer and Radek Stepanek were two of the players forced to retire on Day 1, which may not come as a surprise to many due to their histories with injuries as Mayer and Stepanek have been forced to miss a lot of time from the tour in recent months. Each player made it through three sets, but was forced to pull the plug in the fourth set of their respective matches, giving Martin Klizan and Marsel Ilhan victories through to the second round.
Retirements that were more of a surprise on Day 1 came from Yen-Hsun Lu, Pablo Andujar, Dolgopolov, and Monfils. Lu was unable to get anything going in his match as he retired down two sets to love and 3-0 in the third set. Andujar and Dolgopolov each retired after the end of sets, while Monfils called it quits two points away from dropping a set. Andujar's match was level at two sets all, while Dolgopolov and, essentially, Monfils were down two sets to one.
Day 2 saw more of the same as Alex Nedovyesov, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Gullbis, and Baghdatis each were unable to make it through their matches. Kokkinakis had battled Richard Gasquet at a very high level of play for the majority of four sets, but succumbed to cramps at the end of the fourth. Unable to move or hit serves effectively, the Australian was forced to retire after going down a break in the fifth set. Gulbis and Nedovyesov both retired in the third sets of their matches, with Gulbis' match even at one set all and Nedovyesov down two sets to love. Baghdatis was only three games from losing when he ended his match.
Another big headline was made at the US Open on Day 2, though, by American Donald Young. In his 11th appearance at the tournament, Young won his first match in which he had to come back from two sets to love down. After breaking in the opening game of the match, Young was unable to find a rhythm in the opening two sets, only winning six games total. From that point on, though, he was able to battle through the veteran from France, pulling off arguable the best win of his career. The five set comeback was full of impressive groundstrokes, unbelievable defense, and tons of emotion from the American, as he soared into the second round. His next opponent will be Aljaz Bedene, who benefitted from the retirement of Ernests Gulbis.
With nine retirements, nine five-set matches, and a few seeds being upset highlighting the first round of the US Open on the men's side, surely there will be many more unexpected events occurring throughout the rest of the tournament.
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