US Open Tennis 2011: Recapping Wednesday's Results

Day 3 of the US Open featured a huge off the court story as well as multiple upsets. It was a terrific day for Americans as they battled through the heat of Flushing Meadows.

Here’s all you need to know about Wednesday’s matches:

Top story:

The biggest news at the US Open on Wednesday didn’t even happen on the court.

It was the announcement that Venus Williams had retired from the tournament due to Sjogren's syndrome. It’s a crushing blow to women’s tennis and a very tough day for the Williams family. The timetable for her return to tennis is unknown at this point.

Biggest Upset:

Wednesday’s major upset came on the women’s side as No. 8 Marion Bartoli fell to unranked American Christina McHale 6-7, 2-6.

Runner-up goes to 10th-seeded Nicolas Almagro on the men’s side. He lost to wild card Julien Benneteau of France 2-6, 4-6, 3-6. Almagro was 1-for-13 on break points.

American Men Results:

No. 21 Andy Roddick disposed of 96th-ranked Michael Russell 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. The Texan wasn’t lights out—but was very consistent.

More importantly…he kept his cool.

No. 28 John Isner had a bit more trouble dispatching of Marcos Baghdatis, but the Tampa native was able to knock him off by a count of 7-6 (2), 7-6 (11), 2-6, 6-4.

The big story was 18-year-old Jack Sock. The unranked Nebraska native beat Frenchman Marc Gicque 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to win his first ever match at Flushing Meadows. He’ll be facing Roddick in Round 2.

Robby Ginepri of Fort Lauderdale also advanced by beating Joao Souza of Brazil 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1.

American Women Results:

McHale was the big winner on the women’s side as she now enters the third round. No. 79 Irina Falconi from Atlanta, who upset 14th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, will be joining her.

Sixteen-year-old Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Florida couldn't quite pull off a second upset, blowing a big lead and losing to 27th-seeded Lucie Safarova 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Nineteen-year-old CoCo Vandeweghe from California lost in straight sets 3-6, 4-6 to ninth-seeded Sam Stosur.

Recap:

It was a great day for the Americans on both the men's and women’s side of the draw aside from the Venus retirement. With all of the young players making noise…maybe talks on the demise of American tennis are far too premature.