On Thursday, August 29, the final matches of the second round of men’s and women’s singles at the US Open were played. In the men’s draw, world number 57 Roman Safiullin played his match against Italian number 30 Matteo Arnaldi. In the first round, Safiullin and Arnaldi earned confident victories. Both Roman and Matteo beat Americans Matthew Forbes and Zachary Svaida, respectively, without dropping a set.
Safiullin and Arnaldi met on the court for the first time in January this year. The Russian then won in the quarter-finals 7-6, 6-2. Today Arnaldi was able to take convincing revenge. Safiullin started the match poorly, despite being 40-0 up in the first game. He often made mistakes and Arnaldi took advantage of this. In the first game Roman managed to escape a break point, but the next five games remained in the hands of the Italian. And at 5:2 Matteo calmly served for the set – 6:2 in 30 minutes.
The second match was more evenly matched. In the first games, Safiullin held serve, though not without problems, and had two break points on the return, but missed them. After 2:2, the opponents exchanged breaks. Everything was decided in the seventh game, in which the Italian took the opponent’s serve and then held the lead 6:4 after 50 minutes.
But the third set was in many ways reminiscent of the first. During the entire match, the players had only one break point between them. Arnaldi realized this already in the first game, when Safiullin, serving, took only one point. After that, the Italian had no major difficulties and in the tenth game he finished the match 6:2, 6:4, 6:4 in 2 hours and 6 minutes. Matteo turned out to be better than Roman not only in winners (32 against 27), but also in unforced errors (22 against 34).
The 2024 Australian Open champion and world number one Jannik Sinner took to the court with 20-year-old American Alex Michelsen. The 49th in the ATP rankings was unable to offer any worthy resistance to the leader of men’s tennis: 6:4, 6:0, 6:2 in favor of Sinner in just 1 hour and 41 minutes. In the third round, Yannick will play Australian Christopher O’Connell.
In the women’s tournament, Anna Kalinskaya (15) played with the representative of Hungary, Anna Bondar, the 84th racket in the world. This was their first head-to-head meeting and the Russian emerged victorious from the encounter. Kalinskaya took the first set without any problems. She played more accurately and cleanly than her opponent and quickly took a 4-0 lead before concentrating on holding her serve. And she achieved her goal: 6-2 in 29 minutes.
Kalinskaya started the second game with a break, but in the fourth game Bondar restored the status quo – 2:2. After 3:3, both players had break points, but both games remained in the hands of the server – 4:4. In the end, our Anna put the finishing touches on her namesake. After making a key break in the ninth game, in the tenth Kalinskaya brought the match to zero – 6:2, 6:4 in 48 minutes. Bondar served seven times throughout the match, but also made seven double faults. Kalinskaya, who took fewer risks, made only one ace, but did not have any double aces. And as for unforced errors, the Russians have better statistics (13 versus 21).
In the third round, Kalinskaya will play Beatriz Haddad-Maia (Brazil, 22 years old).
Twenty-year-old Diana Schneider (18) faced WTA number 67 Clara Tauson, a Dane one year older than her opponent. The first set was generally even, and Schneider was a bit luckier. The Russian broke in the third game with five “exactly” and this was enough to win the set. Towson had no break points until the last game. At the decisive moment, Diana acted with precision and, after overcoming the only break point in the entire game, served to win the set 6:4 in 45 minutes.
In the second game, Schneider did not slow down and deservedly won. In the third game, Diana faced a break point, converted it and never looked back. Tauson had no more break points and in the tenth game the Russian finished the match with the first match point: 6:4, 6:4 in 1 hour and 27 minutes.
In the third round, Schneider, who reached the TBS round of 16 (after Wimbledon) for the second time in a row and for the second time in her career, will play 37-year-old Italian Sara Errani, the former fifth racket in the world.
17-year-old Mirra Andreeva (21) fought with American Ashlyn Kruger, who is ranked 59th in the world rankings and is three years older. Good serve and confident actions in exchanges allowed Kruger to defeat Andreeva in the first set. Mirra also made a lot of mistakes and won only one of the first six games. The American twice took her serve on two break points, so she did not miss a single opportunity. In the seventh game, the Russian, trailing 1:5, tried to get back into the fight, got a break point, but did not use it, missed the attack, and Ashley took advantage of the first set point – 6:1. just 21 minutes.
In the second game, Andreeva started to achieve something, though only on the return, not on the serve. The first four games ended in breaks, and then both tennis players seemed to return to the first set, in which the American dominated. Ashley made two more breaks, at 5:2 she did not serve for the match, but at 5:4 she lost only one point in the game and won – 6:1, 6:4 in 1 hour and 5 minutes. A large number of unforced errors (25 against 15) led Mirra to stop in the second round of the US Open for the second year in a row.
“Unfortunately, Andreeva was eliminated from the US Open in the second round. But she has no match for her. Mirra is growing as a tennis player. Now there are many rivals for her. The fact that she has entered the top ten does not mean that she should beat the 50th racket in the world. For her, difficult opponents are all those who are several dozen positions above or below her.
If the opponent is a striker, it will be difficult for Mirra until she loses power. But these data are developing, Andreeva adds. Every step becomes more difficult for her, they prepare for her and treat her seriously. But she will succeed, she has a very good fighting character. Diversity and reliability are Mirra’s main advantages. For now, you cannot demand anything from her. You can wait and wait, but not demand. Mirra is on the rise, she will succeed as a player. There is no need to worry,” said the honored coach of Russia, Viktor Yanchuk, in an interview with “Championship”.
Mirra Andreeva at the US Open – 2024
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Lyudmila Samsonova (16) took to the court with world number 45 Marie Bouzkova. Two years ago, Bouzkova defeated Samsonova at the Guadalajara tournament, scoring a convincing 0:6, 7:5, 6:3 victory. Today, the Russian also won, losing during the match.
Samsonova outplayed her opponent, but all this was negated by a large number of inaccuracies. In the first set, Lyudmila did not have a single break point and the Czech took her serve twice: in the fifth game and in the ninth, which was the last of the match, 6:3 in Marie’s favour in 43 minutes. Samsonova committed as many as 22 unforced errors to her opponent’s only three, and the superiority in winners (11 to four) was of little consolation.
In the second game, Samsonova got into a difficult situation and got out of it on her own. Bouzkova led 4:1, 40:15 with a one-break advantage, but even that was not enough for her. Lyudmila gritted her teeth and fought off this double break point, then, trailing 3:5, did not allow Marie to serve for the match and, thanks to this, was able to take the set to a tie-break. There the Russian advantage was already undeniable – 7:6 (7:1) in 1 hour and 14 minutes. In this game, out of 27 winners, Lyudmila made 20 unforced errors (her opponent had 9 to 9).
In the decisive match, Samsonova made the fans nervous. Bouzkova took her serve in the fifth game, but immediately lost the game 3:3. Then the Russian brought her game to love, and in the eighth game she took control and took the lead from the third break point. At 5:3, Lyudmila served for the match and, after winning a long rally on match point, won a decisive victory: 3:6, 7:6 (7:1), 6:3 in 2 hours 51 minutes.
In the third round, Samsonova will play Kruger, who eliminated Mirra Andreeva.
World number 38 Anastasia Potapova played against 38-year-old Varvara Lepchenko from the USA, who occupies the last place in the second hundred. Lepchenko, who reached the main draw through qualification, made it through the first round when Brenda Frukhvirtova was eliminated at the beginning of the first set 2:1 (rejection). Potapova defeated US Open 2021 finalist Leila Fernandez (23) in a tough battle 2:6, 6:4, 7:5. However, this did not prevent Anastasia from achieving her second victory in the tournament.
The first two matches were very, very tense; suffice it to say that both players missed three break points. In the sixth game, Potapova again took someone else’s serve and was unable to confirm the advantage, but in the eighth game she managed to get the third break, 5:3. Serving for the set, the Russian avoided a break point and converted the first set point – 6:3 in 46 minutes.
In the second game, Potapova acted calmly on serve, despite the low percentage of the first strike (55%), and did not give her opponent a single break point. In the third game, Anastasia put pressure on Varvara from the fourth break point and then calmly took her games and won 6:3, 6:4 in 1 hour and 29 minutes.
In the third round, Potapova will face either four-time TBS champion Naomi Osaka or 2023 Roland Garros finalist Karolina Muchova.
In addition, 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who was scheduled to play against qualifier Jessica Ponchet, withdrew before the match. The Frenchwoman advanced to the third round without a fight. Recall that a month ago the representative of Kazakhstan missed the Olympics due to acute bronchitis. The US Open remains the only major where Elena has never even reached the fourth round. In the previous three years, she had only managed four tournament victories.
“Unfortunately I had to withdraw from the match due to my injuries. It’s not how I wanted to end the last Slam of the year, but you have to listen to your body. I hope I can have a strong end to the year. Thank you to all the fans who support me and I wish the remaining players good luck,” Rybakina said at a press conference.
The US Open ends on September 8. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
