Day three of qualifying for the 2015 U.S. Open meant the remaining players were all fighting for a spot in the main draw of the final Grand Slam of the year. But first, they would have to get past the second hurdle of the qualifying draw. How did the home favourites do? How did the seeded players do? Let’s find out!
Americans Go 7/15 (.466) on Day Three
Day three was a day to forget for many Americans as less than half of them advanced to the third and final round of qualifying.
On the men’s side, former Wimbledon Boys’ Singles champions Noah Rubin and Reilly Opelka, Pan American bronze medallist Dennis Novikov and Daniel Nguyen amongst others, were sent back to the drawing board. There was only one American man that won on day three - Tommy Paul. Paul defeated Jose Hernandez-Fernandez 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the final round of qualifying.
On the women’s side, it was a little better for the American women as Jessica Pegula, Catherine Bellis, Melanie Oudin and Claire Liu all scored wins over seeded players. Pegula defeated number one seed Margarita Gasparyan 6-3, 6-3, while 16-year-old Catherine Bellis defeated the crafty number 22 seed Romina Oprandi 7-5, 7-5. Oudin, a former U.S. Open quarter finalist, has been dealing with her arrhythmia which makes her heart rate accelerate to high speeds for hours at a time.
Oudin was able to overcome 24th seed Yafan Wang of China in a third set tiebreak to advance to the final round of qualifying, a big win for herself emotionally as Melanie admitted to having panic attacks because of her condition. On top of the success of her compatriots on day three, Claire Liu really started a buzz around the grounds too. After winning the prestigious Easter Bowl on the ITF Junior Circuit in April earlier this year, Liu continued her great run of form at home, defeating number nine seed Jana Cepelova, 7-6(4), 6-4.
Mediocre Day for Seeded Players
Day three delivered more surprises than the previous two days as 15 of the seeded players were dumped out at the second hurdle. Some of those seeds include China’s Duan Ying-Ying, Belgium’s An-Sophie Mestach, Spain’s Nicolas Almagro and Italy’s Luca Vanni.
On the men’s side, there were three casualties as Almagro, Vanni and Norbert Gombos were all ousted from the men’s qualifying draw. However, it wasn’t a bad day for all of the seeded men as number one seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, number two seed Alexander Zverev, number three seed Guido Pella and number five seed Nikoloz Basilashvili were all notable winners on the third day of action.
On the women’s side, there were plenty of upsets as Donna Vekic, Hsieh Su-Wei and Patricia Maria Tig were all ousted along with Duan, Mestach and Gasparyan. Vekic lost a tough three setter to the resurgent Sorana Cirstea in three tight sets, Hsieh was upset by France’s Alizé Lim and Tig lost to Japanese player Mayo Hibi. It wasn’t a total blowout for seeded women as number two seed Yaroslava Shvedova, number three seed Johanna Konta and number seven seed Elizaveta Kulichkova all secured spots in the final round of qualifying, without any trouble.
With the second round of qualifying completed, what surprises might we see in the third and final round of qualifying?