Eight Americans Earn First Round US Open Wins on Opening Day, Liu and Kwiatkowski Fall Short

No. 10 seed John Isner and No. 9 seed Venus Williams, the two highest seeded Americans, were among the winners today as the 2017 US Open got underway at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.  Thanks to ESPN's streaming, I was able to watch JC Aragone, Claire Liu and Thai Kwiatkowski's matches today, and although all three suffered losses, they put up good fights.

Recent Virginia grad Aragone's 6-3, 6-3 6-1 scoreline in his loss to South Africa's Kevin Anderson, the former Illinois star, doesn't look impressive, but he held his own in every rally in the first two sets and made the veteran beat him.

Liu, the youngest player in the main draw, fell behind 2-0 in the first set against Ying-Ying Duan of China, looking out of her element despite three qualifying wins. But she recovered, getting the break back and having a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker before losing it 7-6(8).  Liu trailed 4-1 in the second set and saved a match point with Duan serving at 5-3, but Liu broke, held and broke to go up 6-5.  She couldn't serve out the set however, and Duan won the tiebreaker 7-6(3).

Kwiatkowski's loss to No. 23 seed Mischa Zverev hinged on just a few points. The NCAA champion, who graduated from Virginia this year, was not able to hold his break in the fourth set, and Zverev got a second break with Kwiatkowski serving at 5-6. There were no breaks in the fifth set until Kwiatkowski dropped serve at 3-4, but as discouraging as the break was he continued to fight as Zverev tried to serve out the match, saving four match points before the relentless net-rushing of Zverev finally wore him down on the fifth.

Both Aragone and Kwiatkowski are scheduled to play in the American Collegiate Invitational which begins on September 7th at the National Tennis Center.

Eightteen-year-old Sonya Kenin, the 2015 USTA National 18s champion, won her first US Open main draw match in three tries, beating No. 32 seed Lauren Davis 7-5, 7-5.  Kenin has played in the main draw three straights years with wild cards won in competition: the Nationals, and for the past two years, the USTA's Wild Card Challenge.

Qualifier Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, who recently left TCU after his junior year, picked up his first slam victory, when Dmitry Tursunov of Russia retired trailing 7-6(7), 6-1.  Eighteen-year-old qualifier Denis Shapovalov of Canada cruised past Daniil Medvedev of Russia 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 to continue his impressive results on North American hard courts.

Monday's results featuring Americans:

Garbine Muguruza(ESP)[3] def. VARVARA LEPCHENKO 6-0, 6-3
Marin Cilic(CRO)[5]def. TENNYS SANDGREN 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
VENUS WILLIAMS[9] def. Viktoria Kuzmova(SVK) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
JOHN ISNER[10] def. Pierre-Hugues Herbert(FRA) 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
SLOANE STEPHENS def. Roberta Vinci(ITA) 7-5, 6-1
Jordan Thompson(AUS) def. JACK SOCK[13] 6-2, 7-6(12), 1-6, 7-5, 6-4
STEVE JOHNSON def. Nicolas Almagro(ESP) 6-4, 7-6(2), 7-6(5)
SAM QUERREY[17] def. Gilles Simon(FRA) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
SONYA KENIN def. LAUREN DAVIS[32] 7-5, 7-5
Kevin Anderson(RSA) def. JC ARAGONE 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
Ying-Ying Duan(CHN) def. CLAIRE LIU 7-6(8), 7-6(3)
Radu Albot def. ERNESTO ESCOBEDO 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
JARED DONALDSON def. Nikoloz Basilashvili(GEO) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)
SACHIA VICKERY def. Natalia Vikhlyantseva(RUS) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Dudi Sela(ISR) def. CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
Aliaksandra Sasnovich(BLR) def. JULIA BOSERUP 6-2, 6-2
Pablo Carreno Busta(ESP)[12] def. EVAN KING 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(5)
Mischa Zverev(GER)[23] def. THAI KWIATKOWSKI 7-6(5), 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

Tuesday's first round matches featuring Americans:

Elise Mertens(BEL) v MADISON KEYS[15]
Roger Federer(SUI)[3] v FRANCES TIAFOE
ALISON RISKE v COCO VANDEWEGHE[20]
RYAN HARRISON v Tomas Berdych(CZE)[15]
Nao Hibino(JPN) v CICI BELLIS
Marcos Baghdatis(CYP) v TAYLOR FRITZ
ALLIE KIICK v Daria Gavrilova(AUS)[25]
Ons Jabeur(TUN) v BRIENNE MINOR
Taro Daniel(JPN) v TOMMY PAUL
Risa Ozaki(JPN) v DANIELLE LAO
BJORN FRATANGELO v Ivo Karlovic(CRO)
TAYLOR TOWNSEND v Ana Bogdan(ROU)
Philipp Kohlschreiber(GER)[33] v TIM SMYCZEK
MADISON BRENGLE v Kirsten Flipkens(BEL)
JENNIFER BRADY v Andrea Petkovic(GER)
SHELBY ROGERS v KAYLA DAY
Veronic Cepede Royg(PAR) v NICOLE GIBBS
PATRICK KYPSON v Adrian Menendez-Maceiras(ESP)
Tatjana Maria(GER) v ASHLEY KRATZER
Maximilian Marterer(GER) v DONALD YOUNG
CHRISTINA MCHALE v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)[19]

The complete schedule for Tuesday is here.