Young hope Dominic Thiem made it through to the second round of the U.S Open after beating Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. He will meet good friend 11th seed Ernests Gulbis in what should be the most intriguing match of the second round.
Gulbis, the 11th seed, slipped quietly into the second round after defeating Kenny De Schepper 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Gulbis is still an unknown quantity slam wise despite his run to the French Open semis. He lost to De Schepper in his first match after that run at Queens, lost in the second round of Wimbledon, and has gone 3-4 overall since Paris.
It was hard to predict if the Latvian would win or lose his first round match in New York, but he woke up feeling in the right mood, hitting 35 winners to 22 errors and making 22 net approaches, winning 17 of them. His serve was working, too. He hit 65% of his first serves in and won 87% of points behind that delivery. Perhaps he was motivated by the prospect of meeting practice partner and friend Thiem in the next round. Speculation, but Gulbis is the kind of player whose erratic nature encourages it.
Another young player to make it through to the second round was David Goffin, the recent Bet-at-home Cup winner. Since Wimbledon, Goffin has gone 25-1 and hit win 26 as he beat fellow Belgian Niels Desein 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. He will face 32nd seed Joao Sousa in the next round in the first meeting between the pair, the reward being a potential match with seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov who beat Ryan Harrison in straight sets.
Seeds Kevin Anderson (18) and Fabio Fognini (15) were other players to advance on day 3 of the U.S Open. But seeds Santiago Giraldo (27) and Jermey Chardy(30) were both knocked out by Teymaruz Kabashvili and Blaz Kavcic respectively.
Commentary by Christian Deverille
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