Jared Donaldson Upsets David Goffin on US Open Day 2
Jared Donaldson proved to be the bright spot of the American men’s day session on day 2, getting the biggest victory of his young career against the typically ultra-consistent #12th ranked David Goffin of Belgium. Although Goffin seemed to dip slightly in results leading into the US Open, few expected Donaldson to pull off such an important upset on this big stage. Donaldson showed heart and tenacity after dropping a close first set to win the second. He then won a contentious 3rd before bagelling the nimble Goffin in the 4th. The 122nd ranked teenager from Rhode Island has had a great summer advancing to the Round of 16 at both the Rogers Cup in Canada, and the Western and Southern Open in Cincy.
Venus Williams Survives
#5th seeded Venus Williams survived in a tough three-set battle against Kateryna Kozlova on Author Ashe Stadium Tuesday evening. After blowing Kozolova off the court in the first set, and running out to 3-0 lead in the second, Venus succumbed to the Ukranian’s comeback and dropped the set 7-5 behind a slew of forehand and service errors. In the 3rd, Venus broke Kozlova early and served for the match at 5-3. Quickly getting down 0-40, Venus won the next three points and the two exchanged adds and dueces before Kozlova broke back to get on serve at 4-5 as Venus’s forehand struggled to consistently land in the court. Venus swatted her legs, bent over in agony as she fought to try and win the 3rd. Kozlova fell behind early serving to stay in the match and lost on Venus’s second match point with a backhand wide. Venus threw her arms up in relief and praised the crowd for getting her through.
Sam Querrey Continues to Confound
After shocking the world by upsetting the seemingly unflappable Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, Sam Querrey continued his run of uneven play and results post Wimbledon. Querrey lost in four sets to the resurgent Janko Tipsarevic on Louis Armstrong Stadium. Querrey rarely looked comfortable or positive in the match, sprayed errors, and allowed Tipsarevic to move him around the court. After making headlines by skipping the Olympics and discussing why he didn’t believe tennis was an Olympic sport, he proceeded to skip Atlanta, play a new ATP 250 in Los Cabos where he lost in the first round to Santiago Giraldo, then lost in the first round in Cincinnati to Pablo Cuevas, and followed that with a second round loss to Viktor Troicki at Winston-Salem. The sporadic form continues to confound and befuddle so many, as Querrey has long been lauded as having the most natural on-court gifts of his American generation.
Eugenie Bouchard Exits Early
With the echoes and whispers of her litigation with the USTA seemingly everywhere across the Billie Jean King United States Tennis Complex, Eugenie Bouchard took the court against 72nd ranked Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, hoping to replicate her 2014 semifinal run. However it was quite clear in the first set that Bouchard seemed to be lacking the confidence and ball striking that lead her to so much success in 2014. After dropping the first set, Bouchard charged back to take the second and seemed poised run away with the match. But Siniakova would have nothing of it–easing away from Bouchard with an early break in the third and never looking back. Bouchard made headlines this week when seemingly referencing the USTA’s hardline stance toward her suit on Twitter when commenting on how no one tells Serena Williams to concentrate on tennis, as the USTA told her this week.
Main Photo:
