Tennis Atlantic

FLUSHING, NY–Two days of delightful late August weather in New York and the first round of the gargantuan, tournament-before-the tournament has reached its business rounds. 256 singles players have contested the 32 available main draw berths on the line, and half of them have been eliminated. The energy builds in each successive round and so do the crowds. The only event that might tamper down the enthusiasm and the crowds is a possible weather event on Thursday or Friday.

Genie Bouchard must have bittersweet memories of the US Open given her unfortunate off-court injury in the locker room in 2015. She didn’t smile much as she posed for selfies with fans after her 6-2, 6-3 win over Katherine Hui on Tuesday. In the second set, Bouchard looked full of doubt and she will face a difficult climb as she takes on Dayana Yastremska on Grandstand to open up the second round. The punchy Ukrainian played with confidence in her 6-3, 6-2 win over Heather Watson. Although the match scores look very similar, Yastremska’s level of play ascended throughout her victory while Bouchard seemed to wobble down the stretch. Only one will advance to a qualifying final on Friday, and I expect it to be the Ukrainian.

Following that marquis match on Grandstand will be Fiona Crawley and Timea Babos. Crawley stole the late afternoon portion of the show yesterday with a gutsy 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-6(6) win over Reka Luca Jani. Babos also advanced in three sets, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

A Wednesday winner on the women’s side flipped the script from last year. Louisa Chirico went down in the first round of qualies in 2022 against Nao Hibino. One year later, Chirico returned the favor and advanced over Hibino, 7-6(3), 6-3. The American will face Australian Olga Gadecki, who breezed past Harmony Tan, 6-3, 6-1.

And finally, there’s the Wolfpacker Diana Shnaider, who has enjoyed a phenomenal rise in the rankings as she enjoyed success on the pro tour in between classes in 2023. She was in total control of her match against Hailey Baptiste and her 6-3, 6-4 win will pit her against Elsa Jacquemot tomorrow. Jacquemot, at 20, looked like the more experienced player today than Jana Cepelova, 10 years her senior in the 6-2, 6-2 drubbing.

The men’s side is equally competitive. Wednesday saw Americans Zak Svajda and Tenny Sandgren moving on to the second round. Unfortunately, Sandgren had to advance past a Tennis Atlantic favorite in eliminating Denis Kudla today, 7-6(6), 6-4, Kudla is at risk of not being in the singles tournament here the first time in 9 years when it begins on Monday.

Svajda clashed against Igor Ghakov in what felt like an all day match, which actually clocked in at 2 hours and 45 minutes. I wasn’t able to be onsite at the real end of the match, but I was there several times for what was surely to be the end until it was not. The final score was 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 7-6(6), and we will see who has more left in the tank tomorrow: the young American or Canadian veteran Vasek Pospisil, who outlasted Pedro Martinez, 7-6(7), 6-7(3), 6-4 in a nasty #:29. Advantage, young’un?

Japanese men and women did well on Wednesday. Their contingent of compatriots suffered only one defeat. The Land of the Rising Sun went 7-1, and winners included Sho Shimabukuro, Himeno Sakatsume, Haruka Kaji, Yuta Shimizu, Moyuka Uchijima, Mai Hontana and Shintaro Mochizuki.

The field for Round Q2 looks great, with disappointing losses for some upstarts that we’ll talk about in a weekend retrospective. For now, tomorrow’s OOP looks good. Friday Finals weather could make for a long and ugly day, but we’ve got our fingers crossed in Flushing Meadows.