Raonic Ousted By Harrison At US Open, Djokovic Gets Day Off; Murray, Del Potro Thursday
The men’s draw suffered it’s first big loss of the tournament as No. 5 seed Milos Raonic was stunned by American qualifier Ryan Harrison 6-7, 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 in the second round a the US Open.
Raonic, who made the finals at Wimbledon, struggled with a left wrist injury and later cramps.
“A little bit of stress,” Raonic. “I don’t think hydration was an issue. I think I always take that precaution. Probably just nerves and stress, a mental sort of overexuberance rather than — probably more than it should.
“The left arm; right forearm there towards the end of the third; both quads; a little bit hip flexor on the left. It was just catching me all over.”
The loss was Raonic’s earliest exit since 2013 Wimbledon.
“I think I hesitated at the beginning. I forced a little bit. I wasn’t moving that well,” Raonic said. “Then later on, a bunch of those were sort of out of my hand. There were points there that I could barely hold the racquet. I was just sort of trying to get through, either hope it subsides after a certain amount of time or gets better. It just didn’t happen.”
The 24-year-old reached his first career Grand Slam third round and earned just his second Top 10 win in 28 tries.
“It’s exciting to have a big win like this at a slam,” Harrison said. “I’m trying to approach it, you know, just like I would any other match right now. I’m trying to stay in the moment, go through my routines tomorrow, I guess the rest of tonight, like I would any other match.”
While tournament favorite Novak Djokovic had a day off thanks to a withdrawal from Jiri Vesely due to a forearm issue, Rafael Nadal was on court against Andreas Seppi, and the 2-time Spaniard rolled to a 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 win.
Nadal, who lost an Italian Fabio Fognini last year, won a tight second set but otherwise played well and hasn’t lost a set in two matches.
And the highlight of the match was the roof closing at 3-3 in the second set. Nadal was the first player to practice under the roof and tonight he became the first player to finish a match beneath the roof.
Harrison’s countryman John Isner advanced in four over Steve Darcis as did Jack Sock who steamrolled Mischa Zverev.
Two-time quarterfinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also won in four sets. Gael Monfils was also a winner on Ashe beating qualifier Jan Satral and Lucas Pouille advanced from two sets down in a win over Marco Chiudinelli.
2014 champion Marin Cilic cruised past Sergiy Stakhovsky.
On Thursday, the second round concludes with Andy Murray taking on Marcel Granollers and Juan Martin del Potro goes up against American Steve Johnson. Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka are also in action.
US OPEN THURSDAY SCHEDULE
Arthur Ashe Stadium 11:00 AM Start
Lucie Safarova (CZE) vs. Simona Halep (ROU)[5]
Not Before: 1:00 PM
Marcel Granollers (ESP) vs. Andy Murray (GBR)[2]
Julia Goerges (GER) vs. Venus Williams (USA)[6]
Arthur Ashe Stadium 7:00 PM Start
Serena Williams (USA)[1] vs. Vania King (USA)
Steve Johnson (USA)[19] vs. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)
Louis Armstrong Stadium 11:00 AM Start
Kei Nishikori (JPN)[6] vs. Karen Khachanov (RUS)
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[4] vs. Naomi Broady (GBR)
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)[11] vs. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
Alessandro Giannessi (ITA) vs. Stan Wawrinka (SUI)[3]
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