US Open Qualifying 2015: Scores and Reaction from Wednesday
It was a day of few upsets in U.S. Open qualifying Wednesday, as a majority of top-seeded hopefuls advanced while a few notable Americans also pushed their way into Day 3 action.
Second-seeded men's qualifier Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets victory over Horacio Zeballos while Johanna Konta, the No. 3 seed on the women's side, also moved on with ease.
Zverev, an 18-year-old German, made the second round at Wimbledon earlier this year in his first major championship appearance. He struggled a bit against Zeballos before pulling off a 6-1, 6-4 triumph.
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"More than one tennis commentator has noted that there’s a cat-like quality to Zverev," wrote Steve Tignor of Wimbledon.com earlier this month. "He lays back at times, but can pounce from anywhere."
Zverev will move on to play countryman Nils Langer in his second-round matchup. This is the second consecutive year he has made it to the second round of qualifying.
Also moving on for the men is fifth-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili, sixth-seeded Kyle Edmund and seventh-seeded Kimmer Coppejans. Basilashvili and Edmund were able to move on without issue, earning straight-sets wins that were rather easy in execution. Coppejans needed three sets to overcome Ante Pavic, dropping the second in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
On the women's side, Konta defeated Reka-Luca Jani by a 7-5, 6-4 score. The 24-year-old Brit has previously qualified for every major event besides the Australian Open, including a 2012 run to Flushing Meadows.
Fourth-seeded An-Sophie Mestach, fifth-seeded Ying-Ying Duan and sixth-seeded Kateryna Bondarenko also advanced. Mestach was nearly upset by Junri Namigata, who took her deep into a third set before the Belgian escaped with a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 triumph.
The top-seeded player on either side to lose Wednesday was 10th-seeded Go Soeda on the men's side, who took a 6-2, 6-3 drubbing at the hands of Andrey Rublev. Upsets tend to be few and far between in these situations, as a majority of seeded qualifiers have previous experience in majors.
As for the Americans trying to make the cut, a lot of them were sent packing. Ten of the 15 U.S. representatives went down, which would be a disappointment if it were not for the high-profile youngsters sticking around.
Reilly Opelka, a 17-year-old who has drawn a ton of press coverage for his height (6'10"), moved on with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win over Christian Lindell. The Wimbledon juniors champion is looking to make his first major championship. It would be quite the come up from last year, when he was eliminated in the second round of the U.S. juniors.
“You look at the top 100 now on the men’s side,’’ Opelka told Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, “and I think the average age there is, like, 28. So, yeah, I played the Wimbledon juniors...but I have an extremely long way to go."
Also moving on is Taylor Townsend, who is trying to return to form after a struggle-filled 2015. Townsend defeated veteran Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 7-5 and will look to make her second straight U.S. Open appearance. Ranked as high as No. 94 in the world, Townsend has dropped to No. 167 and needs to find some momentum.
Daniel Nguyen, Mitchell Krueger and Anna Tatishvili will also be moving on as they look to add to the Americans in the field. Overall, it should be a couple more interesting days at Flushing Meadows before the real event kicks off Aug. 31.
Full results can be found at USOpen.org
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