Round 2 is done and dusted. Firstly apologies for no post yesterday but varsity life had me swamped. This US Open continues to throw in a few surprises amongst the comfortable wins which we expect from the higher seeds.

Mertens survived a match point in her encounter with Collins. The American was playing some great tennis after taking the 1st set but unfortunately for her she was unable to win the 2nd set tiebreak and Mertens then raced away in the 3rd set to book her spot in the 3rd round. American Townsend is having a great US Open after she knocked out 19th seed, Haddad Maia, in 2 tightly contested sets, 7-6(1); 7-5. Chinese player, Zhu caused an upset as she took out the 18th seed, Azarenka, who has played some good tennis in 2023. Zhu took both sets 6-3 to book her spot in the 3rd round where she will play Bencic. Brady is showing some good form as she knocked out 24th seed, Linette in a topsy turvy 3 set match encounter 6-1; 2-6; 6-2. While 20th seed, Ostapenko, just about survived as she beat Avanesyan in a 3 set encounter, winning the decider 7-5. Wozniacki is playing some great tennis considering she has just come back into the tennis arena. She knocked out 11th seed, Kvitova 7-5; 7-6(5) which is an impressive win for Dane. She will now play Brady which could be an interesting match as both players are coming back into some form. French player, Burel, played a great match as she knocked out the 25th seed, Pliskova, who has had a 2023 which she would like to forget quickly. Svitolina the 26th seed and Pavlyuchenkova gave us a great match last night. It ended up going the way of Svitolina who continues having a fantastic year. She took the match 5-7; 6-4; 6-4. Jabeur, the 5th seed, had to fight through another match as she was taken to 3 sets by Noskova. The Tunisian managed to take the 3rd set 6-3 to keep her US Open dream alive. 13th seed, Kasatkina, had to play another American in her 2nd round match. This time she was up against former grand slam champion, Kenin. Kasatkina just like she did against Parks in the 1st round lost the opening set but just like the 1st round she turned the match around to book a spot in the 3rd round.

Bencic, Gauff, Muchova, Swiatek, Cirstea, Rybakina, Bronzetti, Samsonova, Sabalenka, Alexandrova, Keys, Vondrousova, Bouzkova and Pegula all safely navigated through their matches in straight sets.

So now what happened in the mens draw? Well one of the first matches in the 2nd round saw a huge upset as 7th seed, Tsitsipas, was knocked out in a 5 set encounter against unseeded Swiss, Stricker. Impressively Stricker managed to come back from 2 sets to 1 down to knock out the Greek who continues to try and find answers for his poor form during 2023. Frenchman, Bonzi, played brilliantly against 28th seed, Eubanks who couldn’t replicate his great run at Wimbledon. Bonzi took the match 7-6(6); 2-6; 6-2; 7-6(7). Vesely had a 5 set encounter against 20th seed, Cerundolo. Cerundolo managed to come back from 2 sets down to force a 5th set, but thankfully for Vesely he managed to stop the momentum and took the 5th set in a super tiebreak 10-6 to book a meeting against Gojo. Thiem after finally winning his 1st grand slam match since 2021 had to retire against Shelton due to illness. A shame after they both played a great 1st set. Tommy Paul, the 14th seed, showed some resilience in his win against Safiullin. The American came back from 2 sets to love down to take the match in 5 sets much to the relief of many in the fantasy league. Zhang played one his best matches in his career as he found a way to beat 5th seed, and a former finalist here at the US Open, Ruud. Zhang won the match 6-4; 5-7; 6-2; 0-6; 6-2. Draper played a clean game as he beat 17th seed, Hurkacz in straight sets – 6-2; 6-4; 7-5. Mmoh came through a classic against Isner. Mmoh lost the 1st to sets before taking the match in a 5th set tiebreak 10-7 to end the amazing career of John Isner. Berrettini unfortunately rolled his ankle against Rinderknech. Lets all hope he is not out of the game for too long. Wawrinka rolled back the years as he knocked out 30th seed, Etcheverry in 4 sets. Medvedev remains the best mens pick after he beat O’Connell 6-2; 6-2; 6-7(6); 6-2.

Djere, Djokovic, Hijikata, Shelton, Davidovich Fokina, Tiafoe, Fritz, Sinner, Dimitrov, De Minaur, Norrie and Alcaraz all won their respective matches in straight sets.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and we have a tie for 1st between ‘Draper’s Injuries’ and ‘2nd’. Just 1 point behind in 3rd is previous leader, ‘Fantasy Alive’. Then there is still a fierce battle for 4th between 2 teams, ‘Team Kickbutt’ and ‘Fudgies’ and they have ‘PhenomeNOnadal’ just 1 point behind in 6th.

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.