Citi Open 2015: Thursday Tennis Scores, Results and Updated Draw Schedule

Things are coming into full focus at the 2015 Citi Open tennis tournament. One day after top seed Andy Murray was knocked out, there was a big upset on the women's side with No. 3 seed Belinda Bencic being upended. 

This is a time of year when the grind of a long season and summer heat can take a toll on even the best players. It's also an opportunity, with some of the top stars skipping events to get ready for the U.S. Open, for underrated players to win a high-level tournament. 

Here are the results from Thursday's action in Washington D.C.

Scores

Bracket	Winner	Loser	Final Score
Men's Singles	No. 2 Kei Nishikori	No. 16 Leonardo Mayer	6-4, 6-4
Men's Singles	No. 3 Marin Cilic	No. 13 Sam Querrey	7-6, 7-6
Men's Singles	No. 15 Jack Sock	No. 4 Richard Gasquet	6-7, 7-6, 6-4
Men's Singles	Steve Johnson	No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov	6-3, 1-6, 6-3
Men's Singles	Sam Groth	No. 7 Feliciano Lopez	6-3, 6-4
Men's Singles	No. 8 John Isner	No. 12 Vasek Pospisil	6-4, 7-6
Men's Singles	Ricardas Berankis	Teymuraz Gabashvili	7-5, 6-4
Men's Singles	Alexander Zverev	Alexandr Dolgopolov	2-6, 6-2, 6-4
Women's Singles	No. 1 Ekaterina Makarova	Naomi Broady	6-4, 7-6
Women's Singles	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	No. 3 Belinda Bencic	6-2, 6-4
Women's Singles	Christina McHale	Yulia Putintseva	6-2, 1-6, 7-5

Schedule

Full updated schedule of play for the Citi Open can be found at the tournament's official website. 

Recap

Bencic's tournament came to a surprising end against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The writing was on the wall in the second set when Bencic had three of her four double-faults, though credit goes to Pavlyuchenkova for firing on all cylinders. 

Andrew Jerell Jones of the Intercept noted how Pavlyuchenkova's ability on Thursday was too much for Bencic before the match was over:

Bencic has had a solid season to this point, winning her first career singles title in June at the Aegon International. She's just 18 years old and has a long way to go before reaching her full potential, so this loss can be a valuable learning experience for when she's not playing at her best.

Pavlyuchenkova, who had two singles tournament wins in each of the previous two years, needed a win like this. It marks just the third time in 2015 that she beat a ranked opponent in a singles event and first against an opponent in the top 10.

There was no upset in store for top-seeded Ekaterina Makarova, though she did get a challenge from British qualifier Naomi Broady. 

Broady showed a powerful serve with 14 aces that kept her in the match. This was a positive step for the 25-year-old, but it turned into a case of Makarova's talent eventually winning out. 

The Russian really needs a good tournament run just for her confidence. This marks her first time advancing past the second round in a singles event since the French Open. 

On the men's side, Kei Nishikori got things started with a straight-set win over Leonardo Mayer. The second seed's ability to win the first serve was a key turning point, as he went 29-of-32 in that category. 

Here's how Nishikori would put Mayer away, via Citi Open:

There's also more at stake for Nishikori in this tournament if he gets a win, as noted by Jose Morgado of Portugal's the Record:

Nishikori's ascent over the last two years has gone largely unnoticed, mainly because fans and analysts are so focused on Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. It's easy to understand why, but the 25-year-old has won six events since 2014 and reached at least the quarterfinals in three straight Grand Slams from the U.S. Open last year to the French Open this year. 

Two ranked players on the men's side who couldn't hold serve were Feliciano Lopez, who was undone by Sam Groth's 20 aces, and No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov. Groth's win marks the second time in two months he's defeated Lopez. The first came at the Mercedes Cup in June.

Lopez's decline this year has been steep, as he boasted a 14-12 overall record coming into Thursday's match. He's fallen to 19th in the world rankings and is on his way to falling outside of the top 20 based on how things are going. 

Dimitrov is another player whose stock is falling. He was coming off of a career-best season in 2014 with three singles titles and 50 match wins, but he is still in search of a title this year and has a pedestrian 18-12 record in singles matches. 

Johnson's win marked his second consecutive upset, previously knocking off No. 11 Bernard Tomic in the second round. The difference in this match came when he was winning on the first serve. He went 27-of-33 in that category in the first and third sets, compared to 4-of-10 in his quick second-set loss. 

With more upsets happening Thursday, as well as the top two seeds on the women's side playing Friday, the Citi Open is shaping up for a dramatic finish. Samantha Stosur has been the best player regardless of gender thus far, but Makarova continues to win and is setting up a showdown in the finals. 

Nishikori will have to go through Groth in the biggest quarterfinal match on the men's side.

"I've never played [Groth] before, and it's never easy to play big servers, but I am serving and returning well, so I'll just have to take the small chances I get," Nishikori said, according to ATPWorldTour.com

The field could open up even more if Groth pulls off another stunner, especially with three other unranked players still on the board.