TOUGH WEEK FOR AMERICAN MEN ENDS IN NEW YORK AND WINSTON-SALEM BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 23rd August 2014

TOUGH WEEK FOR AMERICAN MEN ENDS IN NEW YORK AND WINSTON-SALEM BY RICKY DIMON |

Photo by Francisco Resendiz

American men can only hope they fare better in the U.S. Open main draw with their 11 participants than they did in qualifying earlier this week. Not a single American man managed to successfully navigate through three matches and punch a ticket into the field of 128. Two Americans had advanced to the final round, but neither one could finish the task on Friday.

Rajeev Ram served for the match in the third set but ultimately succumbed to Andreas Beck of Germany 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(5). Ernesto Escobedo served for the first set but struggled with a shoulder problem almost the entire way and lost to Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis 7-6(3), 6-1.

Among the notable qualifiers were Borna Coric and Steve Darcis. Coric, a 17-year-old Croat, got the best of No. 16 seed Jimmy Wang 7-6(4), 6-1. Darcis, who upset Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2013, was cruising past Emilo Gomez 6-1, 2-0 when the Ecuadorian retired.

“It has been a tough year for me,” said the Belgian. “After beating Nadal I had so many bad moments and now I feel great to get through to the main draw. Physically and from the baseline I’m feeling great.”

Americans cannot be feeling great about their performance in either New York or Winston-Salem. John Isner, seeded first at the Winston-Salem Open, had to pull out prior to his Thursday quarterfinal against Lukas Rosol because of a sprained ankle. United States’ hopes were entirely finished one day later, when Sam Querrey blew multiple leads against Jerzy Janowicz. Querrey served for his semifinal match in the second set and also led 4-3, 40-0 in the third only to fall 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Still, the world No. 56 won four matches this week and is optimistic for the U.S. Open.

“This was the first time I had played five matches in a row all year,” Querrey explained. “I played consistently the whole week. My forehand felt good and my serve felt good. It’s a good feeling to have going into the US Open.”

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

Topics: Andreas Beck, Borna Coric, Ernesto Escobedo, John Isner, Rafael Nadal, Rajeev Ram, Sam Querrey, Steve Darcis, Tennis, Tennis News, Winston-Salem

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10sBalls_com says:

August 23, 2014 at 12:17 pm

TOUGH WEEK FOR AMERICAN MEN ENDS IN NEW YORK AND WINSTON-SALEM BY RICKY DIMON- http://t.co/laZD8iZ0KV @RD_Tennistalk #tennis #WinstonSalem