U.S. MEN GO 2-3 ON FIRST DAY OF U.S. OPEN TENNIS QUALIFYING @FLUSHING MEADOW BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 19th August 2014

U.S. MEN GO 2-3 ON FIRST DAY OF U.S. OPEN TENNIS QUALIFYING @FLUSHING MEADOW BY RICKY DIMON

epa02316647 A ball boy holds a pair of tennis balls prior to the start of the Roger Federer/Paul-Henri Mathieu match at the 2010 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, Meadows, New York, USA, 04 September 2010. The US Open Championship runs through 12 September when the men's final is scheduled to be played. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

It may not be main-draw action, but the 2014 U.S. Open is officially underway. Qualifying began on 13 different courts at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. on Monday. Players who are ultimately scrapping and clawing for three wins this week kicked off their some sometimes unceremonious campaigns, putting to the test their hopes for spots in the main draw.

Five American men took the court on Day 1 and they compiled a decent 2-3 record that could have been so much better. All three of losses taken by United States representatives came in three sets. Chase Buchanan lost to No. 1 seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, Tennys Sandren succumbed to 10th seed Peter Polansky of Canada 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and Alex Kuznetsov came out on the short end of a 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-1 decision against Japan’s Taro Daniel.

Buchanan posted the following on Twitter after his loss: “Didn’t go my way… Thanks to the awesome fans in New York for another great atmosphere! Another step!”

Taking a step into the second round of qualifying were Michael Russell and Ernesto Escobedo. Russell downed Spain’s Enrique Lopez-Perez 6-1, 6-4 and Escobedo ousted No. 24 seed Somdev Devvarman of India 6-3, 6-2. To say Russell and Escobedo are at opposite ends of the career spectrum would be a gross understatement. In fact, Russell, 36, is exactly twice as old as Escobedo, 18.

Russell at the U.S. Open is a well-documented story of what some would call failure and what others would refer to as perseverance. In nine tries, the veteran has never won a single main-draw match in New York. That’s right; he is 0-9. What Marinko Matosevic was to all Grand Slams prior to this season’s French Open, Russell is to the U.S. Open.

His losses have come to Giorgio Galimberti, Hernan Gumy, Todd Martin, Gael Monfils, James Blake, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick, Gilles Simon, and Richard Gasquet, Three of those nine were in the top 10 at the time and seven of nine were in the top 34.

With a win over Belgium’s Steve Darcis on Thursday, Russell would be in the final round of qualifying for the first time in his U.S. Open career. His lone previous qualifying appearance came in 2009, when he earned the only U.S. Open match victory of his career before falling in the second round.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing meadow, Ricky Dimon, sports news, Tennis, US Open

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10sBalls_com says:

August 19, 2014 at 10:21 pm

U.S. MEN GO 2-3 ON FIRST DAY OF @usopen #TENNIS #QUALIFYING @FLUSHING MEADOW BY @RD_Tennistalk- http://t.co/dvG0otwhlI #usopenqualifying