Friday, August 26, 2011

Tursunov to meet familiar face in U.S. Open

   Dmitry Tursunov won't have to wait long for a chance at revenge.
   The Folsom resident, ranked 44th in the world, drew Belgium's Steve Darcis, ranked No. 102, on Thursday in the U.S. Open. Tursunov lost to Darcis 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 Tuesday in the second round of the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Open to even their career head-to-head record at 1-1.
   The winner of the Tursunov-Darcis match in the U.S. Open, which begins Monday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., could play 24th-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in the second round. Tursunov is 0-2 lifetime against Chela.
   Tursunov has lost in the first round of the last two U.S. Opens. That he even played in them was a considerable achievement, considering that he underwent three operations on his left ankle or foot between April 2009 and February 2010.
   In fact, when Tursunov reached the second round at Wimbledon in June, he ended a streak of nine consecutive first-round singles losses in Grand Slam tournaments dating to the 2009 Australian Open. He had been on a string of three straight third-round showings.
  Tursunov, 28, will be playing in his ninth consecutive U.S. Open since debuting in 2003. His best results are third-round appearances in 2003, 2006 and 2008.
   Meanwhile, Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals will face Greta Arn of Hungary in the U.S. Open. The 5-foot-5 King, ranked No. 105 in singles, and the 5-11 Arn, ranked No. 62, have never met.
   The winner could play 29th-seeded Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia in the second round, and top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki looms in the third round. King is 0-1 against Gajdosova and 0-2 vs. Wozniacki.
   King, 22, will be playing in her seventh consecutive U.S. Open since debuting in 2005. Her best showing in singles was the third round in 2009. She will defend her doubles title with Yaroslava Shvedova.
   U.S. Open qualifying -- Stanford senior Bradley Klahn, last year's NCAA singles champion, defeated 14th-seeded Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in the second round of qualifying at the U.S. Open.
   Klahn will meet unseeded Canadian veteran Frank Dancevic, ranked No. 183 after reaching a career-high No. 65 in 2007, today for a berth in the main draw.
   U.S. Open mixed doubles playoffs -- Sacramento-area players Christina Fusano, seeded first with former Stanford All-American David Martin of Tulsa, Okla., and Yasmin Schnack, unseeded with Sacramento's Eric Roberson, advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open National Playoffs in mixed doubles at New Haven, Conn.
   Fusano and Martin coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada and Aleksander Vlaski of Serbia, while Schnack and Roberson eked out a 6-4, 6-7 (6), 12-10 tiebreak win over Imke Reimers of Minneapolis and Erik Donley of Duluth, Minn.
   The winner of the tournament will earn a wild card in the mixed doubles main draw of the U.S. Open.
 
    
  

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