Defending Champs Cilic and Serena in Action on Day Three of U.S. Open

September 2, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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The second-round of the U.S. Open singles tournament begins today with a number of Americans on both sides of the draw starting things off in the day session.

Madison Keys, the 19th seed, will be first onto the courts of Arthur Ashe Stadium as she takes on the Czech Republic’s Tereza Smitkova. Keys, a semifinalist at this year’s Australian Open, will be seeking a spot in the U.S. Open third round for the first time in her young career. She ousted another Czech, Klara Koukalova, in straight sets in the first round, and will look to do the same today. Today’s meeting marks the first career match between Smitkova and Keys.

An All-American matchup will be first onto the Grandstand, as Madison Brengle takes on qualifier Anna Tatishvili, who notched one of the tournament’s biggest upsets thus far when she took out seventh-seed Karolina Pliskova on Monday.

Brengle will be looking to build on her second round appearance in Flushing Meadows last year and reach the third round, while Tatishvili is seeking to reach the third round at a Grand Slam for the second time in her career. She reached the Round of 16 back in 2012.

Following the Keys-Smitkova contest on Ashe, defending Men’s Singles Champion Marin Cilic will look to continue his run against Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy. Cilic looked impressive in his opening round win against another qualifier, Guido Pella, and won the only previous matchup against Donskoy.

The two are separated by 130 spots in the rankings, and Cilic will look to continue his eight-match winning streak against Russian players.

The third match onto Ashe will feature world number one Serena Williams as she continues her quest for the calendar Grand Slam and Steffi Graf’s record when she takes on Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands. The two have never played, and Serena is coming off a match where she only played eight games and lost none. Serena is 46-1 on hard courts this year and 49-2 overall.

Playing in his final tournament as a pro, American Mardy Fish will battle with 18th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez on Louis Armstrong Stadium in a matchup of 33-year-olds. Fish leads the all-time series 5-3 against Lopez, with the first match between these two coming back in 2002. Lopez is seeking to reach the third-round or later for the sixth consecutive year.

Another All-American battle will follow this contest, as Bethanie Mattek-Sands meets Coco Vandeweghe. The two have met just once before, a Vandeweghe win in San Diego back in 2010. Both players are seeking to reach the third round in Flushing Meadows for the first time in their careers.

Novak Djokovic plays later tonight on Ashe against Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer, whom he is 1-0 against in his career. The world number one Serb has won 28 consecutive second-round matches at Grand Slams since losing to Marat Safin at Wimbledon in 2008.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal will face Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman on Armstrong. Nadal looked impressive in his opener against Croat Borna Coric. Despite dropping a set, Nadal handled a tough first-round opponent in Coric, dominating at the net (won 16 of 17 net points) and displayed a lot of aggressiveness, which is a good sign for the Spaniard moving forward. Nadal won the only previous meeting against Schwartzman.

The main draw of the doubles tournament begins today. Bob & Mike Bryan will begin their quest for a 17th Grand Slam title against fellow Americans Steve Johnson & Sam Querrey on Armstrong. The Bryans have yet to win a Grand Slam in 2015, and if they don’t prevail in Flushing this week, it will mark the first time in 10 years that the pair didn’t win a single Grand Slam title in a season.

Click here for the full schedule of matches for Day Three of the 2015 U.S. Open.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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