Western and Southern Open 2015: Thursday Tennis Scores, Results, Latest Schedule

Thursday was a huge day at the Western and Southern Open, with seven of the top 10 seeds on the men's side and women's top seed Serena Williams in action. 

The good news for Williams and Novak Djokovic is that they were not caught in the early web of upsets that was happening in Cincinnati. All of them got wins to keep their championship hopes alive, though the competition only gets more difficult moving forward. 

Heading into the home stretch, everyone needs to be putting their best foot forward. It doesn't always happen, as the field is stocked with talent, but style points do count with the U.S. Open on the horizon. 

Thursday Scores

Men's Singles	Score
Women's Singles	Score
No. 1 Novak Djokovic def. No. 13 David Goffin	6-4, 2-6, 6-3
No. 2 Roger Federer def. No. 15 Kevin Anderson	6-1, 6-1
No. 3 Andy Murray def. No. 16 Grigor Dimitrov	4-6, 7-6, 7-5
No. 5 Stan Wawrinka def. Ivo Karlovic	6-7, 7-6, 7-6
No. 6 Tomas Berdych def. Tommy Robredo	6-0, 6-1
No. 12 Richard Gasquet def. No. 7 Marin Cilic	7-5, 6-3
Feliciano Lopez def. No. 8 Rafael Nadal	7-5, 4-6, 7-6
Alexandr Dolgopolov def. Jerzy Janowicz	6-3, 3-6, 6-4
No. 1 Serena Williams def. Karen Knapp	6-0, 6-2
No. 3 Simona Halep def. No. 15 Andrea Petkovic	4-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 Ana Ivanovic def. Sloane Stephens	2-6, 6-4, 6-1
No. 7 Lucie Safarova def. Belinda Bencic	6-2 (Retired)
Jelena Jankovic def. No. 8 Karolina Pliskova	6-2, 3-6, 7-5
No. 14 Elina Svitolina def. Caroline Garcia	6-0, 6-3
Anna Schmiedlova def. Varvara Lepchenko	6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Victoria Azarenka	1-6, 3-0 (Retired)

Updated Draw Schedule

For the latest schedule, the Western and Southern Open website has updated matchups and start times. 

Recap

In his second match of the tournament, Djokovic was given a difficult test from David Goffin before prevailing in three sets.

It was a sloppy effort by Djokovic, who had seven double-faults and was down 0-3 in the third set before winning six straight games to close things out.

As a reward for his efforts, Djokovic will get to play Stan Wawrinka in a rematch of the French Open final won by the Switzerland star. Wawrinka had his own problems against unranked Ivo Karlovic, with all three sets going to tiebreakers and winning the last two to advance.

Karlovic was overpowering with 35 aces, including 13 in each of the final two sets. Serving was a key component of the match, with neither player converting on six total break-point opportunities, per Tennis TV:

In addition to the lack of break points converted, Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times noted it was a Karlovic mistake that ended the match:

While neither Djokovic nor Wawrinka was at his best Thursday, the two stars won't have any time to dwell on things before their Friday showdown. 

Djokovic has dominated the overall series against Wawrinka, winning 19 of 23 career matchups, but they have split their last four meetings with Wawrinka winning twice in Grand Slam tournaments.

While Djokovic ultimately prevailed Thursday, fellow star Rafael Nadal could not say the same. He lost in a thrilling three-set match with Feliciano Lopez, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6. The match, which required a final-set tiebreaker, was so close that Lopez finished with 98 total points to Nadal's 97.

Lopez tallied a critical 14 aces and 43 winners and picked up his fourth career win over Nadal. Next up for Lopez is a date with defending champion Roger Federer, who won his match Thursday over Kevin Anderson, 6-1, 6-1.

The big story on the women's side was rising star Belinda Bencic being forced to retire with a wrist injury after losing the first set against No. 7 Lucie Safarova. 

Per WTA Insider, Bencic said afterward that she wasn't worried about her long-term prognosis:

It's a case of unfortunate timing, as Bencic was moving up the tennis ranks after defeating Williams and Simona Halep to win the Rogers Cup last week and had won her first four sets in this event prior to Thursday. 

The 18-year-old had been riding a wave of momentum heading into the U.S. Open, which begins August 31, so hopefully her wrist problems are only minor and she isn't physically limited in the year's final major. 

Victoria Azarenka was forced to retire in the second set of her match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with a thigh injury, despite winning the first set handily (6-1).

The 26-year-old has been plagued by injuries since the start of 2014, going winless since her triumph at this tournament two years ago. 

It will be interesting to see how Azarenka fares at the U.S. Open coming off of this event. It was the last major tournament in which she advanced to the finals, in 2013, and she is 26-7 this season against opponents who aren't Williams or Maria Sharapova. 

Even though Azarenka's latest setback is discouraging, Rothenberg was complimentary of what it said about her mentality looking to the future:

Williams had no problems in her match with Karin Knapp, dropping just two games and breezing through the first set thanks to this winner, per WTA on Twitter:

Aside from Williams' hiccup last week against Bencic, this has been an incredible season for the 33-year-old. She's lost two matches all year and will look to enter the U.S. Open on a high note, giving her an opportunity to win all four major titles in a single season for the first time.