WHAT HAPPENED: A vocal Marketa Vondrousova stepped up in the key moments to edge Eugenie Bouchard, 6-4, 6-3, on Court 17. The 19-year-old Czech, who has reached the second round at every Grand Slam except Wimbledon, has now advanced to the third round for the first time in her major career.
Dressed in identical, soft-pink Nike kits and each swinging Yonex racquets, the second-round opponents also shared the first six games of the match. Vondrousova, who sported a clean white visor, struck the cleaner ball late in the first set as she rallied to take the opener. The Czech roared as she held serve in a 10-point game to go up 5-3, before breaking Bouchard for the third and final time in the set.
Vondrousova got loud again after saving the second of two break points at 2-1 in set two, but Bouchard answered back to level the set at 3-3, just as she did in the first. At 1-3 down, she won a crucial 30-all point by slicing a deep overhead through the deuce-court singles sideline as the Court 17 crowd got firmly behind her.
But again it was the Czech who turned it on late. She opened up a 0-40 advantage with Bouchard serving at 3-4, but needed the help of a net cord to secure the decisive break on her fifth opportunity in the game.
A clever backhand-volley lob ended a match that was certainly not as routine as the scoreboard showed. Despite winning five more games than her opponent in the straight-sets victory, Vondrousova won only three more total points, 64 to 61.
WHAT IT MEANS: Vondrousova was originally slated to play No. 21-seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu in the opening round, but was the beneficiary of a late withdrawal from the Romanian. Instead, she played and beat lucky loser Mona Barthel, the WTA’s No. 111-ranked player, in two sets to record her first US Open victory.
She ended a run of eight straight sets won by Bouchard, who breezed through three US Open qualifying rounds as the play-in tournament's No. 16 seed before handling France's Harmony Tan in Round 1.
After beating the Canadian, Vondrousova will now face a seeded opponent for the first time in the fortnight when she takes on Cincinnati champion Kiki Bertens, the No. 13 seed, in Round 3.
MATCH POINT: Vondrousova reached a career-high WTA ranking of No. 50 as an 18-year-old in March, after a run to the fourth round in Indian Wells.
