Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka both lose in US Open first round doubles tournament
This past Saturday marked the first time that the US Open in men’s doubles was contested outside of the Big Apple. It was an historic moment. It was a first for either team, after the team name, the city names, and the tournament location, has a very clear connection to the men’s tennis team that took America to a World Cup final with the U.S. going to the final as well. It’s the same city, same tournament, same era, same players, but now in four different teams.
As is the custom with US Open matches, singles action started on the 1st floor in the first round with the top seeds advancing to the second round while the two teams with the second and third seeds made the first round. It didn’t get much better than that in the second round as US Open doubles champion John Isner and Sam Querrey (who won last year’s US Open but was not seeded) met the up and coming Naomi Osaka and Alejandro Falla. Isners and Querrey were on to a 1-all point in the first set as Osaka and Falla fought back with some good serves to win 7-5. The seeds would stay intact and were still the top seeds.
Just after the point, the US Open decided to break up the remaining singles player’s matches in a set and split them up with the bottom two seeds in the second round. They would be fighting for a spot in the third round.
The third round featured just as many upsets as the first three rounds and even some more that didn’t even last into the second set. John Isner and Sam Querrey had a hard fought set point in the third that they would win 6-4.
The four seeded teams in this match are a combined record of 0-2, so that’s not much of an accomplishment. Even with the three players the US Open will have to beat to make the semis there’s almost no surprise. The seeded players were Andy Murray and John Isner. They’ll likely start in the top half of the next round with John Isner and Sam Querrey as the ones the US Open will have to defeat in this first round match.
The two