His brother Christian also qualified for the main U.S. Open draw, but lost in the first round.
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Ryan Harrison, not yet 25 and two years removed from his last top-100 ranking, has the makings of such following a spirited 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 upset of Milos Raonic, the No. 5 seed, in Wednesday’s second round at Flushing Meadows.
Canada’s Raonic, the fifth seed, struggled physically as American qualifier Ryan Harrison – the world number 120 – won 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 7-5 6-1.
“It’s nice of course to come back but you have a lot of pressure”, said Vinci who was ranked 43 in the world this time a year ago.
Harrison, 24, who was born in Louisiana, is now based in Texas and once was seen as possibly the “next big thing” in American men’s tennis, earned his first trip to the third round at a Grand Slam tournament. “I think he stepped up and he played a solid match”.
Raonic, considered as a potential title dangerman in NY, hit 18 aces and fired down 69 winners but was undone by 62 unforced errors. There was a lot of nerves and stress. It…
Konta won the first set 6-2 and was up a break in the second, which the 71st-ranked Pironkova went on to win 7-5. The US Open is the only Grand Slam where Raonic has failed to reach the quarterfinals, which is surprising given the speed of the surface. Although pressed in the second set, Kerber saved two set points and persevered 6-2, 7-6 (7).
On the women’s side, Garbine Muguruza lost to Anastasija Sevastova 7-5, 6-4.
Raonic seemed to slowly tire from that point in NY, the 25-year-old thwarted by Harrison, who saved nine of 10 break points in a 70-minute second set. Harrison was waiting for it and belted a forehand pass by a stiff-legged Raonic to break back for 4-all in the third set. I started playing qualifying in D.C.
Top seed Novak Djokovic reached round three without hitting a ball as Jiri Vesely withdrew before their match. Vesely and Andrey Kuznetsov were even at 5-5 in the first set in the third round last Wednesday when he stopped.
“I’m a little embarrassed”.
After losing the first set and absorbing seven Raonic aces, Harrison became a passing-shot machine and stunted the recent momentum of the Canadian who just split up with his recent adviser, McEnroe, before the Open began.
Later Wednesday, Spanish fourth seed Rafael Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 champion, takes a 7-1 career record over Italy’s Andreas Seppi into their night time clash. I’m not a fan of drama.
Raonic added: “I think I didn’t start off well in the match”.
Earlier in the day, Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber moved past Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2, 7-6 (7).
Earlier Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil was eliminated after a 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4 loss to 23rd-seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
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The seventh-seeded Cilic needed just 1 hour, 40 minutes to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday.
