“It’s mental maturity, a little bit of stabilization with everything around me that is allowing me to play with a sense of calm and also with excitement”, said Harrison, who turned pro almost a decade ago and reached a top ranking of 43rd in 2012.
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And consider this bit of fortuitous statistical fodder: Djokovic has won seven straight matches against the highest-seeded player in his half of the draw, No. 4 Rafael Nadal, and has never lost to the next two, No. 5 Milos Raonic (7-0) and No. 7 Marin Cilic (14-0).
Two-time Wimbledon victor Petra Kvitova, the 14th seeded Czech who recorded her best performance in NY 12 months ago when she made the last-eight, beat Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay 7-6 (7/2), 6-3. The Belgian pushed big American for nearly 3 hours, mainly thanks to the 3rd set that lasted 70 minutes, in which he prevailed in the end by 12-10 in the tie break.
Prediction: Djokovic in 4 sets. All tennis players suffer stress on their joints, but the ones who go deepest into draws feel it the most.
The American world No.120 blunted the Raonic serve throughout the match, winning seven of 18 break points as the Canadian struggled with his game, his body and the intense heat in NY.
The 13th-seeded Konta advanced to the third round at the U.S. Open with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory in 2 hours, 33 minutes over Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday. The most recent match was in the 2013 US Open, a match Djokovic won in four sets.
Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame a spirited fight from James Duckworth to win 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 and move into the third round. It was a good match between two good servers, with a lot of net rushing from both and it lasted exactly 3 hours, thanks to one incredible fact.
Milos Raonic returns during his first round match. The World No.1 has remained coy and non-committal in regards to a possible right elbow injury – something that continues to be bothering him during this campaign. Duckworth had to chase the result from the very first game, losing his serve on 4th break point, and he prevented even worse scenario with 2 break points saved in game 5.
Edmund recorded a shock opening win over world No 15 Richard Gasquet on Monday and followed it up with an equally convincing 7-5 6-4 6-4 victory over Escobedo. In the insane 3rd set, the Frenchman had 13 break chances, but he converted only 1 in the second game, with that being enough to take the set 6-3, having no troubles in his games. He had been 0-6 in second-round matches. Both rallied from two sets down in the first round: Isner spent 3 hours, 27 minutes on court Monday, while Darcis needed 4 hours, 11 minutes.
Two highly-fancied potential title winners are also in second round action.
“I always believe in myself”, said Wozniacki, unseeded in NY for the first time since her 2007 tournament debut, “and I always think that in my head I belong at the top of the game”. This made him settling into a nice rhythm on serve, as he had no troubles in his games in set number 2, which we can’t say for Escobedo too.
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There was a little record-setting on the men’s side as well, with Croatian Ivo Karlovic belting a US Open record of 61 aces in a 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun. He made a name of himself.
