Alex Bogomolov, Jr. Gets His First US Open Win

Written by: Staff on 31st August 2011

Alex Bogomolov, Jr. Gets His First US Open Win |

In a day that has seen withdrawals (Robin Soderling, Venus Williams) and upsets (Nicolas Almagro, Marion Bartoli, Bryan twins)…there was also a first.

After six tries, Alex Bogomolov, Jr. has gotten past the first round of the US Open. Although he has won matches in Qualifying…those match wins don’t go in the History books. This 5 set, 3 hour 40 minute match will. The history books will tell a story that Bogomolov aka “Bogie” was down two sets to and it will show the Stats, the facts. But the stats can’t tell about how much heart went into this match on both sides.

The beginning of the match was about Bogie playing too much to Steve Johnson’s pace. Bogomolov was serving at 1-2, on serve, in the 3^rd set and a glance to the clock showed that only 1 hour 37 minutes had passed. Bogie needed to slow things down and make Johnson play at his pace which is exactly what started occurring. Bogie was the veteran on court where as Johnson was the “rookie” to this level. Johnson had never played in a Slam let alone played a match beyond 3 sets.

It was in the 4^th set where Johnson’s inexperience got the best of him as his legs began to cramp on him and he just appeared to be getting more fatigued as Bogie wore him down. At 5-4 in the 4^th set, Bogomolov was serving for the set and there was one point missed that in the past would have probably affected his attitude the rest of the match. There was a seemingly easy overhead that all he needed to do was smash…he smashed it but he smashed it out. Bogie ended up losing that game and being back on serve 5 ALL and faced with holding his serve and having to win a tiebreak to get into the 5^th. Johnson began to cramp more in the tiebreak but didn’t give up doing the best he could to get through the tiebreak so he could get treated at changeover for the cramping. He couldn’t get an injury timeout for the cramps but he could try to get them rubbed out.

Watching Johnson cramp up brought back memories of Bogie’s first US Open where he cramped up in a 5 set match against Martin Verkerk. There was a sort of interesting irony in watching this match develop and play out.

In the 5^th set, Steve Johnson wasn’t able to move well but he hung in there and played the best that he could. At the end, after 3 hours 40 minutes…Alex Bogomolov Jr. def (WC) Steve Johnson 4-6 4-6 6-3 7-6(3) 6-3. Bogie will now face (LL) Rogerio Dutra Da Silva of Brazil in the 2^nd round.

Dutra Da Silva replaced Robin Soderling when Soderling had to withdraw 3 hours prior to his match due to illness. Dutra Da Silva faced Louk Sorensen where he and Sorensen split the first two sets but then the Irishman’s game seemed to go down and he retired after the first game of the 4^th set.

This could be a very good chance for Bogie to reach the 3^rd round.