If the first day of junior play at the 2017 US Open was full of surprises, Monday was a return to normalcy.
Leading the way in restoring order were the boys’ and girls’ singles top seeds, Axel Geller and Whitney Osuigwe, who stormed into the second round at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Osuigwe, a 15-year-old Floridian who won the French Open girls’ singles title less than two months after turning 15, earned her first US Open win, 6-1, 6-4, over Margaryta Bilokin of Ukraine. The American, who lost in the semifinals of the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championships as the No. 8 seed, was well aware that two seeded American girls lost their opening-round matches yesterday.
“We’ve all been doing pretty well this year - obviously, a lot of the girls went out yesterday,” said Osuigwe. “But I just tried to worry about myself.”
It worked for Osuigwe, who won her first-ever match at the US Open nearly two weeks after she lost in women’s qualifying. Osuigwe played junior quallies in New York as a 13-year-old and in the main draw last year, losing both times.
“Before this I had never won a match at the US Open, so it was pretty amazing today,” said Osuigwe, who admitted that the US Open is different than any other major she has played in.
“Yeah, New York’s a lot louder. There’s a lot more energy...It’s been a good summer for me so far, so I had some confidence coming in here.”
Geller may be three years older than Osuigwe, but Monday’s win earned the Argentine the same accomplishment -- his first US Open victory. Geller broke and held deep in the second set to seal the triumph in his first-ever match in Flushing Meadows, over American Andrew Fenty, 6-3, 6-4. The Wimbledon runner-up converted on 3-of-11 break points in the match, and that was enough to close out Fenty in 82 minutes.
Four out of the other six boys’ seeds who competed on the competition’s second day advanced to the second round in straight sets, with the only loser being No. 12 Patrick Kypson, who fell to Great Britain’s George Loffhagen, 6-1, 6-3. Loffhagen, who lost a heartbreaking three-setter against Kypson in the third round at Wimbledon, came through two three-setters in qualifying to earn his spot in the main draw.
No. 2 Marta Kostyuk survived a scare in the girls’ draw, overcoming a first-set loss against Sada Nahimana to win the next 12 games and the match, needing only 42 minutes to sweep the final two sets. No. 9 Sofia Sewing battled hard, but ultimately lost to Alina Charaeva in two hours, 54 minutes, 5-7, 7-6, 7-5.
Other American girls who will carry the flag into round two include 13-year-old Cori Gauff and 15-year-old Caty McNally, who both advanced in straight sets.
