US Open Tennis 2015 Results: Early Wednesday Results, Highlights and Scores

Coming off a surprising two-day stretch with key upsets that opened up the field, the 2015 U.S. Open went a lot more like the rankings would suggest during the afternoon session on Wednesday. 

Serena Williams did struggle early against Kiki Bertens, but she found her groove in time to win a first-set tiebreaker and put things away in the second set. 

There were three top-10 seeds on the men's side in action early. Milos Raonic was given a fight in the last two sets against Fernando Verdasco before holding on for a 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 victory. David Ferrer and Marin Cilic earned straight-set victories. 

Mardy Fish nearly pulled off an upset against No. 18 Feliciano Lopez, getting to match point in the fourth set, but was unable to close it out. 

Here's the daily look at what has transpired at the U.S. Open early on Wednesday, complete with results for the top matches and a detailed recap of the biggest stories to come from New York. For complete scores visit USOpen.org.    

Men's Result	Score
Women's Result	Score
No. 7 David Ferrer def. Filip Krajinovic	7-5, 7-5, 7-6
No. 9 Marin Cilic def. Evgeny Donskoy	6-2, 6-3, 7-5
No. 10 Milos Raonic vs. Fernando Verdasco	6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6
No. 14 David Goffin def. Ricardas Berankis	5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
No. 18 Feliciano Lopez def. Mardy Fish	2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3
No. 27 Jeremy Chardy def. Martin Klizan	7-5, 6-4, 7-6
No. 32 Fabio Fognini def. Pablo Cuevas	6-3, 6-4, 6-4
No. 1 Serena Williams def. Kiki Bertens	7-6, 6-3
No. 15 Agnieszka Radwanska def. Magda Linette	6-3, 6-2
No. 19 Madison Keys def. Tereza Smitkova	6-1, 6-2
Anett Kontaveit def. No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	7-5, 6-4

Wednesday Recap

Williams was in trouble during that tiebreaker against Bertens, falling behind 4-0, though there was a moment that seemed to signal a shift in the entire match, per U.S. Open Tennis on Twitter:

This was one of those matches Williams tends to have, where her entire game is off and she gives her opponent a small opening. The women's No. 1 seed had 34 errors against Bertens, which made this her first real test of the tournament. 

Likely as a result of the sloppy play, Jane McManus of ESPN New York noted that Williams worked on her game after the match:

The good news for Williams is that things set up nicely for her in the next two rounds, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Williams' first order of business will be against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who defeated Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets. Those two haven't played a head-to-head match since the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2008. (Williams won that match 6-3, 6-3.)

The struggles of American men's tennis has been well-documented over the years, which is why Fish's near-upset of Lopez felt like a bigger deal than it otherwise would have. 

Fish's first-round win was a significant moment in his career, as it was his first match at a major tournament since 2012. He detailed his struggles with an anxiety disorder for The Players' Tribune. 

"My anxiety disorder started in 2012," Fish wrote, "during what should have been the high point of my career. I was at the end of a long road—a few years long—on which things really started to come together for me."

The 33-year-old had already announced this year's U.S. Open would be his final tournament, which he noted in his piece for The Players' Tribune. He was serving up 5-4 in the fourth set and a chance to win. It didn't work out for him, but this was hardly a bad showing. 

After the match was over, Fish told the Guardian's Simon Cambers his achievements on and off the court don't make this a sad day:

"

No, I don’t feel unlucky in the broad scheme of it. I’ve got an incredible family, I’ve been blessed to play a game for a living, and even more than that, I’ve been blessed to have the ability to play it and the ability to play two sports at the same time. There’s not many people that are able to do that, so yeah, I feel very lucky.

"

Everyone in the stadium showed Fish love after his career officially ended, per U.S. Open Tennis on Twitter:

Andy Roddick, who walked away from the sport after the U.S. Open in 2012, showed respect to his friend and fellow countryman:

From the agony of defeat to thrill of victory, Cilic needed a strong showing on Wednesday. The defending U.S. Open champion struggled to defeat Guido Pella in the first round, needing two tiebreakers to advance. 

Wednesday was a different story for Cilic, who dropped five games in the first two sets against Evgeny Donskoy. This continues his run of success in New York, as noted by Gaspar Lanca of Tennis-Portugal.com:

For perspective, Cilic's first 13 wins came from 2008-12. (He missed the 2013 U.S. Open after being suspended for failing drug tests.)

Cilic was the first player outside of the Big Four (Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer) to win the U.S. Open since Juan Martin del Potro in 2009. He's got a long way to go to defend that title, but Wednesday was an encouraging step in the right direction. 

On the women's side, Madison Keys has been cruising through two matches with another straight-set win over Tereza Smitkova in which she only dropped three sets along the way. 

As noted by ESPN Stats & Info, Keys' career trajectory in Grand Slam events has gone way up this season:

However, things get more difficult for Keys in the third round. The 20-year-old will take on Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated Magda Linette on Wednesday and ended Keys' run at Wimbledon in the quarterfinals. 

Today almost feels like an anomaly on the U.S. Open schedule because of how upset-free things played out. There were some challenges for marquee players, but they showed how important talent and a strong mindset are to winning on this stage. 

There is still time for things to take an unexpected turn on Wednesday, as Novak Djokovic takes on Andreas Haider-Maurer in the final match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, but the picture from New York looks crowded with the usual suspects heading into Day 4 on Thursday.