In two fell swoops, the entire American contingent on the Men’s side was erased from the 2014 U.S. Open, as No. 13 John Isner was upset by No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber, 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(2) 7-6(4), and No. 1 Novak Djokovic easily dispatched Sam Querrey, 6-3 6-2 6-2.
U.S. Open bracket 2014 update: John Isner, Petra Kvitova fall in third round
The 2014 Wimbledon Ladies’ champion and the last American hopes for a Men’s title in Flushing were each knocked out in an otherwise easygoing third round.
Al Bello
Djokovic and Kohlschreiber will be joined in the next round by No.3 Stan Wawrinka — who won his match against Blaz Kavcic in a walkover thanks to Kavcic’s injured foot — and No. 5 Milos Raonic, who defeated Victor Estrella Burgos, 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 7-6(3), in what may have been the hardest fought straight-set victory of the year.
Former U.S. Open champion No. 8 Andy Murray also made it after a strong start and finish with some struggles in the intermediate sets led him to a 6-1 7-5 4-6 6-2 victory over Andrey Kuznetsov. Rounding out the top ten were No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who made short work of Pablo Carreno Busta, 6-4 6-4 6-4, and No. 10 Kei Nishikori, who did the same with No. 23 Leonardo Mayer, 6-4 6-2 6-3. An updated Men’s bracket can be found here.
A battle of Americans saw No. 1 Serena Williams roll over Uzbekistan ex-pat Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3 6-3, while No. 3 and 2014 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova made Serena’s journey to her third consecutive U.S. Open title significantly easier after she fell to Aleksandra Krunic, 6-4 6-4. Just a day after Simona Halep’s shocking departure, this leaves Serena as the final top-four seed with Maria Sharapova the next highest remaining seed at No. 5.
No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard survived an upset bid, dropping a second-set tiebreak to Barbora Zahalova Strycova, but hanging on for a 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4 victory to advance to the fourth round.
Italy’s Flavia Pennetta and Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka equaled Williams’ dominance, with No. 11 Pennetta defeating Nicole Gibbs, 6-4 6-0, and No. 16 Victoria Azarenka crushing Elena Vesnina, 6-1 6-1. Outside of Kvitova, the other major upset in the Women’s bracket was Kaia Kanepi’s 7-5 6-0 defeat of No. 15 Carla Suarez Navarro.
Rounding out the seeded, No. 17 Ekaterina Makarova defeated Zarina Diyas, 6-2 6-4, and No. 29 Casey Dellacqua beat Karolina Pliskova, 6-3 3-6 6-4, to make it the Round of 16. An updated Women’s bracket can be found here.
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