Andy Murray was practicing on grandstand (new) with the NCAA ace Thai Son Kwiatkowski. Murray was accompanied by Ivan Lendl and Jamie Delgado but did not appear to be moving well at all. Limping quite clearly between points and on his walks to the chair for breaks. All the long, physical matches with the 30-year-old who turned pro in 2005. Usually Murray has fun in these type of practices, smiling and engaging with his practice mate but I saw none of that yesterday. Murray looked good but I don’t see him being a factor in this tournament.
Maria Sharapova practiced on the same court earlier in the day and she too looked like an aging veteran not really enjoying her day. It was all business. Coach Sven Groenveld was feeding her balls to both wings and she was ripping her shots. Then after a break she started serving, very slowly at first and then eventually into playing points out. Nick Bollettieri was there in the second row and then he changed his seat to get a closer view by entering the court and sitting on the rim of the first row, near the net post , closer to Maria who was serving on the far side.
It looked like Nick was trying to get the attention of his old protege who first moved to Florida and trained at his renowned academy as a young teen. But Maria was too all-business and serious to stop her practice to go over and say hi or hug Nick. She surely saw him but even when she went to the chair to break, she went straight to the chair and ignored Nick’s presence. Maria is all business and still serious about her tennis. She was working hard and even grunting on some points. We left the pretty full but very quiet new grandstand, where the crowd was respectful for Maria, clapping for her after some nice points. I talked with Nick later and he said Maria gave him a copy of her book.
The most emotional win of the day was by Vicky Duval, who was down a set and 4-1 to China’s Yifan Wang but battled all the way back to win 26 64 64. The always-smiling now 21-year-old who famously upset Sam Stosur here a few years ago and has overcome cancer was overjoyed with the dramatic win in front of a packed house on court 6.
Su-Wei Hsieh had a much easier time beating Hradecka 62 61 after her 76 in the third win in round one vs Chen. The 31-year-old legend, who has played eleven US Opens, again greeted her many fans after the match. Hsieh is a former world no. 1 doubles player with a French Open and Wimbledon titles in her collection. She is still competitive in singles, with a nice third round run in Paris this year.
Frank Dancevic turns 33 later this month but he’s showing signs that he has plenty of gas left in his tank. Frank the Tank took down  Stefane Robert 63 67 75. Frank is hoping to win one more match in Q round three to earn his sixth career US Open main draw, where he he once got to the second round (2013). I still remember seeing Frank lose a heartbreaker here a couple of years ago in qualies round three to Joao Sousa 76 in the third and Frank was so beaten up that he walked barefoot back to the locker room, slower than a 90-year-old man.
John Isner had better hope Peter Gojowyczk does not qualify and land in his section of the draw. Gojo has an uncanny service return and has beaten Ivo Karlovic in Newport this year and also yesterday he slayed Reilly Opelka 76 62.
Remember Alexa Glatch? She reached the second round of the main draw here in 2005 as a fifteen year old but lost yesterday in the Q second round as a 27-ear-old to 28-year-old Colombian Mariana Duque Marino 64 63.
25-year-old veteran Evan King (pictured above) is playing his first US Open. The Chicago lefty and former Michigan Wolverine lost the first set to Renzo Olivo but fought back for a 36 61 60 win. King was playing Futures last year and earlier this year and now he’s one match away from his first grand slam main draw. Â Today’s opponent: US teenager Michael Mmoh.
Allie Kiick vs Vicky Duval, Hsieh vs Kaia Kanepi, JC Aragone vs Akira Santillan, Smyczek vs Polansky, Stefano Tsitsipas vs Nicolas Mahut all will face off today for  main draw slots.
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Duke Carnoustie · August 25, 2017 at 12:29 pm
Great report.
Evan King nearly pulled off one of tennis’ toughest feats, almost taking down Sambrero Querrey in Mexico. I wonder why he doesn’t get into more main draws.
Dan Markowitz · August 25, 2017 at 12:33 pm
King to me is the best story of the qualifiers. Here’s a guy who’s ranked in the 330’s and looks like he’s James Harden with his beart. He’s clearly got no clothing sponsorship and I saw him on the first day of Qualifiers and he was talking to friends saying he was playing tomorrow and I looked at the guy and said to myself, “Who’s this guy? How’s he playing in the Qualis?” But now he’s beaten two tough competitors in Caruso and Olivo and I’d really like to see him qualify and get into his first slam main draw.
How about Millot just toasting the guy who beat Blumberg, the Tukish guy, in the next round after facing down a break point against Klein?
catherine · August 25, 2017 at 1:26 pm
Simona v Maria S in 1st round – You’d have to make that one up 🙂
Dan Markowitz · August 25, 2017 at 1:48 pm
Best story of qualis is this Allie Kiick, the daughter of the great former Miami Dolphins running back Jim Kiick, who overcame cancer, two knee surgeries to come back at age 22 and she beat Vicky Duval, another cancer survivor today, Duval retired shortly after the first set, to make the main draw.
Duke Carnoustie · August 25, 2017 at 3:08 pm
Wow Catherine, that’s the best round 1 matchup for sure!!
Frances Tiafoe draws Federer.
Taylor Fritz draws Baghdatis.
catherine · August 25, 2017 at 3:16 pm
Duke- and I’m sure both players’ memories will go back to RG 2014. What I love about tennis sometimes.
Hartt · August 25, 2017 at 3:37 pm
Denis Shapovalov won in 3 sets over his Czech opponent, Jan Satral, today. Denis makes comebacks in matches so often I wasn’t even worried when he lost the first set TB (OK, just a little worried). It will be interesting to see who he plays in 1R.
Before the qualies, his manager, Kepsinski, said: “We know it’s not going to get any easier for him now. . . . No one on the ATP tour wants to lose to an 18-year-old kid.” How far can Denis go in the main draw?
Duke Carnoustie · August 25, 2017 at 3:48 pm
Tim Smyczek is in the main draw now. Donald Young has drawn a qualifier… Hmmmmm
Duke Carnoustie · August 25, 2017 at 4:43 pm
Andy Murray’s quarter is incredibly week. Take a look at it, the other seeds are Tsonga, Pouille and Haase.
Look for either Edmunds, Donaldson or Kokkinakis to make a run in this quarter. It’s one of the weakest in recent memory.
jg · August 25, 2017 at 6:31 pm
I watched Evan king yesterday and today, yesterday he had all different brands for shirt shorts and shoes, and tennis bag ( different from racquet ) you have to love it and today same thing, although the shorts were same as the shoes. He was clearly the better player today against Mmoh, who needs a lot of work, especially in the backhand, he doesn’t take a full cut and I thinks stops the swing halfway through and it’s not going to cut it at that level. King is quick and crafty, maybe he will make a breakout. Scoop did you see Mahut’s son in the first row rooting loudly ) ? JC Arigone was the best match I saw today, an unexpected qualifier from UVA, which has 2 players I the main draw.
jg · August 25, 2017 at 7:10 pm
Murray has a tough first round against Sandgren, especially if he’s not 100 percent.
Duke Carnoustie · August 25, 2017 at 8:14 pm
Wow Shapovalov draws Medvedev in Murray’s quarter. Maybe he can make a run.
Young playing Marterer and Smyczek v. Querrey so no renewal of the rivalry.
Dan Markowitz · August 25, 2017 at 8:20 pm
See Jon, you didn’t even have to have Ryan Shane in the draw to get your UVA player in the main draw. I’ve barely even heard of Aragone. That’s a big win for Evan King over Mmoh. Mmoh of course is 19, King 25, but it shows you these touted young players like Mmoh and definitely Kozlov, they might have the higher rankings and USTA support, but they are not ready for primetime.
Didn’t get out the last two days, but today, unfortunately in the last round of qualis, at least on the men’s side, it doesn’t seem like there was one great close nail-biting match. Denis S won easily in third set as did Mahut. Are the only Americans to qualify, E King, Smyczek and Arigone? That would be pretty slim pickings when there were 18 in the draw. 3 out of 18, I think those were John Starks numbers in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals.
I see the two best matches of day were Millot winning over Bolleli in three and Kukushkin prevailing 7-5 over Andreozzi who’d just beaten Klahn 7-5 in second round of qualis. Kushkin is a good player.
Scoop Malinowski · August 25, 2017 at 9:10 pm
Mmoh is 4-0 vs Kozlov in pro tourney’s over the last sixteen mths. Mmoh is solid, just needs to mature his game a bit. Agree his backhand looks stifled a bit. But very nice game which I can see blossoming at some point.
Duke Carnoustie · August 25, 2017 at 9:14 pm
Just watched Dzumhur come back from 1-6 down to defeat Edmund in 3. Dzumhur always fun to watch and he came to WS after reaching the final last week in the DR. He dusted Evan King 1 and 0 on the way.