By: Chris McMillen
Only four qualifiers of the ten in first round matches on day 2 of the US Open survived to the 2nd round of play.
Jimmy Wang, Lara Arruabarrena-vecino, Olga Puchkova and Tatjana Malek cashed in on 2nd round money and big tour points and take their four match streaks into the next round.
Here is the breakdown of the days matches with 2nd round previews of the survivors.
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#12 seed (12) Ana Ivanovic d. (164) Elina Svitolina (UKR) 63 62
(Despite Ivanovic having a tough time with her first serve Svitolina could never mount a serious threat
to her sevice game not once forcing a break point. Canít win without breaks.)
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#5 seed (6) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) d. (370) Karol Beck (SVK) 63 61 76(2)
(Playing in front of a overflowing Grandstand crowd Beck seemed tight but didnít back off his full
octane game. Made a game of it in the third set but with only breaking Tsonga once throughout the
match took its toll.)
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(105) Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. (155) Nastassja Burnett (ITA) 60 63
(Dushevinaís serve was on and this one was over in less than an hour. Again no breaks against the
Main Draw opponent for this one.)
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(58) Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) d. (145) Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 63 62
(The good news, Kudryavtseva was able to break Soler-Espinosaís serve 3 times. The bad news, her
serve was broken 8. Another qualie goes down.)
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(183) Jimmy Wang (TPE) d. (75) Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 76(4) 67(8) 61 64
(Wangís solid game overcame the big serve from the big man from Croatia. Down a mini break in the
first tie breaker Wang responded with four straight points to steal the first set. Got fired up after
letting the second set get away by crushing Karlovic in the second set 6-1.)
2nd Round Opponent – #16 Seed (17) Gilles Simon – 1st meeting
(Simon looking to get back to the round of 16 for the second straight year and was tested in his first
round match against Michael Russell. Wang is still playing with house money. Should be another
outer court chess match.)
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#11 (117) Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino (ESP) d. (62) Shahar Peer (ISR) 64 76(5)
(Arruabarrena-Vecino continued her solid defensive style of play to outlast another opponent.
Even with a large crowd rooting for Peer at Court 8, the 20 year old Spaniard was able to convert
on 5 of 6 break opportunities and commit on 3 errors to move on to the 2nd round for the 1st time
in a Grand Slam)
2nd Round Opponent – #30 seed (27) Jelena Jankovic
(A real test here. Her only other Slam attempt against a seeded opponent was at the 2012 French
where she was hammered by Ana Ivanovic. Letís see if she can build on that against Jankovic. It
will be hard to do since Jankovic has found her form as of late with a good run at the Texas Open
last week and a easy first round match here.)
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(79) Ekaterina Makarova d. (LL)(105) Eleni Daniilidou 61 64
(Despite dropping on the final day of qualies to Samantha Crawford she got in a main draw on a
withdrawal but could not capitalize falling in straight sets to Makarova.)
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(39) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) d. (118) Matthias Bachinger (GER) 62 46 64 67(10) 76 (5)
(Bachinger gave Baghdatis all he could handle but in the end dropped his fourth straight meeting
with the #39 ranked player in the world. Not as loud and crazy as the Monaco – Garcia Lopez
five setter in the Grandstand but played out very much the same. With improbable breaks, clutch
saves of serve and a mix of shots that made the price of admission worth while. One of my
favorite matches of the day made even crazier with Court 4 going nuts in the background
as Sock / Johnson knocked off the #1 doubles team of Mirnyi /Nestor at the same time as
this set was headed to its final tie-breaker)
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(142) Tatjana Malek (GER) d. (121) Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 46 62 64
(Sandwiched between the Tomic /Berlog 4 setter on Court 13 and the Gabashvilli / Dutra Silva
5 setter on Court 15 in the tight back outer courts many werenít paying attention to court 14
where Malek game back from a set down to overtake Amanmuradova . Pushing 50% in
receiving points won coupled with converting 70% of her 1st serves for points Malek controlled
the match and makes it through to the second round. )
2nd Round Opponent – (44) Sloane Stephens (USA) – 1st meeting
(Difficult opponent for Malek coupled with the prospect of playing in one of the three feature
courts. Will have to keep her cool just to keep it close.)
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(205) Johanna Konta (GBR) d. (59) Timea Babos (HUN) 62 75
(Konta came out firing and took the first set in just 34 minutes. Babos got her act together and
went up 5-1 in the second set before Konta came storming back taking five straight games for the
victory. With Judy Murray and SKY Sports looking on Konta proved for the second straight
match that no lead is safe. Whether it be hers or her opponents.)
2nd Round opponent – (67) Olga Govortsova (BLR)
(No reason to think Konta canít win this one too. She plays like a top 100 and is riding high
knowing her game can handle it.)
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(112) Rogerio Dutra Silva (BRA) d. (155) Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) 46 64 67(5) 63 75
(Battling for well over 4 hours on Court 15 Gabashvili finally succumbed to the young man from
Brazil after some line calls did not go his way and with no review on this outer court lost his
edge. )
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(144) Olga Puchkova (RUS) d. (111) Irina Falconi (USA) 67(5) 76(2) 63
(Battling back from a tough tiebreaker loss in the first set and overcoming a very pro Falconi
crowd at feature Court #17. Puchkova showed great poise in taking this in three sets repeating
the result of their first meeting.)
2nd Round opponent – (74) Kiki Bertens (NED) – 2nd meeting
(The two met at the French Open in the second round of qualifiers and Bertens won handily 62
60. Both are coming off 1st round victories over Americans in feature stadiums. Iím pretty sure
its back to the outer courts with no video review for this one.)
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2-27-2012 Day 1 Qualifier Results – How they did in the Main Draw
On day one 16 qualifiers went into 1st round Main Draw matches and 7 moved on to the second round. Compare that to the dayís wild card entries where 8 of the 11 free passes fell to defeat. Only Jack Sock and James Blake on the Mensís side and Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic took advantage of their (W) status. Not bad for those getting here the hard way.
Going in we knew two qualies would make it through and two would go home with Tim Smyczek outlasting Bobby Reynolds and Edina Gallovits-Hall getting by Stefanie Voegele.
The biggest upset by a qualie definitely went to Kristyna Pliskova, who helped along a horrible day for the German women, by ousting the #9 seed Julia Goerges in straight sets.
Daniel Brands, Magdalena Rybarikova, Kirsten Flipkens and Anastasia Rodionova rounded out remaining survivors.
Here are the results of all 14 matches and previews of the 2nd round opponents for those remaining.
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(106) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) d. #6 (112) Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 62 63
(1st qualifier to go down. Casey Dellacqua continues her solid play with a easy win over
Tsurenko. Dellacqua entered the main draw on record when three of the top seeds withdrew.
That also allowed fellow Australian Olivia Rogowska to move from qualifiers to the reciprocal
Wild card in a scratch my back Iíll scratch yours agreement between the organizers of the US
and Australian open)
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(126) Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) d. #9 seed (21) Julia Goerges (GER) 76(4) 61
(After a rain delay Pliskova won the breaker and Goerges never recovered. Great win for a
qualie. Easily the upset of the day)
2nd Round opponent – (79) Mandy Minella (LUX) – 2nd Meeting
(Mandy Minella behind a boisterous Luxembourg crowd on court #15 knocked out the wild card
from Australia Olivia Rogowska. Pliskova and Minella met early in there careers in 2007 on clay
and Minella won in straight sets. Another good draw for the 20 year old now in a bracket with 2
seeded players gone after day one.)
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#17 seed (18) Kei Nishikori d. (221) Guido Andreozzi (ARG) 61 62 64
(Hishikoriís game was way too polished for Andreozzi and even with a rain delay was never
in it. A nice run for the 21 year old who doubled his pay for the year on getting 4 matches here.)
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(179) Tim Smyczek (USA) d. (149) Bobby Reynolds (USA) 16 64 62 46 64
(6th time was the charm for Smyczek as he outlasted Reynoldís in one of the more thrilling matches
of the day. Pushed off on court #6 the match featured 11 total breaks of serve and
and only 6 unforced errors between the two in a opening round battle with $37, 000 and the
chance to face the Kei Nishikori)
2nd Round opponent – #17 seed (18) Kei Neshkoro – 4th meeting
(Nishikori must of felt good realizing he might get all the way to the round of 16 only facing
qualifiers. A favorable draw indeed, except for the fact he has a losing record against Tim
Smyczek. Their last meeting was back in 2011 in San Jose where Tim beat him in three sets on a
hard surface. Smyczek has never lost to Kei on hard court with his only loss to the top twenty
player coming on clay back in 2010 at a Challenger event in Florida.)
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(48) Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) d. (152) Guido Pella (ARG) 75 36 64 62
(Unlike his fellow Argentinian qualifier Andreozzi, Pella was able to steal a set from his top fifty
player. Like his fellow countryman he leaves with a lot more confidence in his game and some
funds to continue on the South American Challenger circuit.)
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(135) Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU) d. (137) Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 75 64
(A repeat of their first meeting, but this time on the hard courts, with Gallovits-Hall winning in
straight sets.)
2nd Round opponent – #7 seed (7) Samantha Stosur (AUS)
(Despite each player approaching 400 career matches the two have never faced in a WTA event.
Stosur looking to keep it short and sweet like her first round thrashing of Petra Martic (61 61). With
any luck Stosur could another qualie in round three before facing off against the upper half of this
killer quarter of the draw.)
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(118) Ivan Dodig (CRO) d. (229) Hiroki Moriya (JPN) 60 61 62
(Despite a brutal 12 months for Dodig which has seen him slide out the top 40 Moriya proved to be
no problem.)
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(91)Laura Robson (GBR) d. (394) Samantha Crawford (USA) 63 76(6)
(Crawfordís magical run has come to an end. Despite pushing the second set to a tie breaker Double
faults and an inability to score on her second serve in the first set were to much to overcome vs. the
more seasoned teenager of the pair. Robsonís experience at the Open showed with no unforced
errors or double faults allowing her to move on to the 2nd round for the second straight year.)
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#25 Seed (28) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) vs. (163) Julia Glushko (ISR) 75 62
(Wickmayer continues her solid year with a workman like win over Glushko. No reason to think
she wonít get by her next opponent only to gamely drop to Kvitova later in the week.)
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(161) Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) d. (W)(101) Julia Cohen (USA) 63 60
(Cohen was one of 5 American women wild cards who bowed out in the 1st round. Understandable
when you draw a Clijsters or Safarova respectively as Duval and Oudin did, but harder to explain
when your opponent is a lower ranked qualifier.)
2nd Round opponent – #31 seed (32) Varvara Lepchenko – 3rd meeting
(The first time they met was 12 years ago in Tashkent where Rodionova won in straight sets against
a the then unranked 14 year old Lepchenko. 9 years later that met again to the same result.
However, Lepchenko is arguably playing the best tennis of her career coming into the Open with
her highest ranking ever. Still, Varvara will need to play low error tennis to get by the seasoned
veteran in Rodionova.)
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(123) Daniel Brands (GER) d. (84) Adrian Ungur (ROU) – 76(4) 64 76(4)
(With big serves and big winners Brands finds himself in the second round of a slam for the first
time since 2010 Wimbledon where he defeated then #5 in the world Nikolay Davydenko and made
it all the way to the round of 16 where he fell to Tomas Berdych. Looking to repeat that run here in
Flushing.)
2nd Round opponent – #12 seed (13) Marin Cilic – 3rd Meeting
(Maybe third timeís the charm for Brand dropping both previous meetings in straight sets. The last
Time was back in July at Umag in the second round 61 76(8). Cilic went on to win that clay court
tournament.)
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(136) Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) d. (60) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 63 36 63
(Flipkens made it three out of four with this three set win over Strycova. Only 5 points separated the
two in this tightly contested match which saw 9 breaks of service and only 2 total winners over the 2
hour and 15 minute match. )
2nd Round opponent – #1 seed (1) Victoria Azarenka – 1st meeting
(Azarenka is a women on a mission. Definitely seeming slighted by being pushed to Louis Armstrong
Stadium over Arthur Ashe she destroyed Alexandra Panova 60 61 in just 50 minutes with 20 winners
and allowing her opponent only 18 total points for the match. And this was against a solid top 100
opponent. Flipkens needs a miracle to go any further.)
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(83) Bjorn Phau (GER) d. (195) Maxime Authom (BEL) 62 46 64 76(6)
(Authom was able to win a set and played a spirited mathc but the higher ranked player prevailed.
Still a great run for the 25 year player bfrom Belgium.)
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(67) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. (57) Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) 63 26 63
(Rybarikova finds herself one more win from getting to the third round for the third time and for the
first time since 2009. However, she has now gone the distance in three of her four matches here.
And in each one could be seen struggling with the humidity. No quit in the #1 seed out of qualifiersí
though and no reason to expect anything next in her 2nd round match.
2nd Round opponent – #28 seed (28) Jie Zheng – 3rd meeting
(Jie Zheng has never beaten Rybarikova losing both times in straight sets. Both are seasoned veterans
though and neither meeting was in a Grand Slam event. Both are trying to return to the 3rd round for
the first time since 2009.)
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