August 230, 2019 – Marin Čilić, Petra Martić, and Donna Vekić have advanced to the 3rd round of the US Open.
HTS reports that Petra Martić’ secured another win at this year’s US Open and was the first Croatian to go through on Thursday after her success against Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan (152nd in the WTA list) – 6:2, 6:4.
Petra won the first set fairly quickly after an initial lead of 4:0. In the second set, she led with 4:2, after which she lost her serve and allowed Bogdan to level at 4:4, though this was the only time in the match. However, for the fourth time in the match, Petra reached a break which turned into a victory and her first time in the 3rd round of the last Grand Slam tournament of the season. Petra will play against the 11th best tennis player in the world, Latvian Anastasia Sevastova, to reach the round of 16. This will be their third encounter, with each player having one win so far.
Donna Vekić achieved her second victory at this year’s US Open on Thursday after defeating 34-year-old Estonian Kaia Kanepi (82nd in the WTA list) – 7:5, 6:3.
Vekić had some difficulty in the first set, in which she lost her first strike on two occasions. Kanepi led 3:1, and Donna saved a set point at 4:5 at her serve to take the set after three wins in a row for 1:0. The second set was far easier for Donna, who used two breaks (in the third and ninth game) to confirm her second time in the 3rd round of the US Open. Recall, Donna made it for the first time in 2017.
With this win, Donna jumped to 22nd place in the WTA ranking (one ahead of Petra Martić), which equals the best ranking of her career. To enter the round of 16, Donna must play against Ukrainian Julia Putinetseva, the 39th best tennis player in the world.
Marin Čilić passed into the 3rd round of the US Open, though he didn’t get there without a fight. The former winner of this tournament completed the task against German tennis player Cedric-Marcel Stebe (256th in the ATP ranking) in the second round – 4:6, 6:3, 5:7, 6:3.
Čilić entered the match slower and lost his serve right away in the first game. He quickly came back with a break, but Stebe once again used Marin’s mistakes and took away his serve in the ninth game to win the first set.
Marin continued to play and easily won the second set, but in the third, the Croatian faced new problems. Namely, Stebe led 4:1 after he broke Čilić in the fourth game, though Marin won six of the next seven games and still found a way to win the third set. The fourth set saw the result equal at 3:3, though Marin secured the win after two consecutive breaks. Marin’s victory saw 48 winners, but 52 simple errors (Stebe 33). Marin will now play against 14th-seeded American John Isner, against whom he has eight wins in 11 games played.
Recall, Borna Ćorić pulled out of the tournament due to a back injury and never played his 2nd round match.
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