Some of the heavyweights of the WTA are slowly making their bids towards becoming the first US Open champion not named Serena Williams since 2011.
In the second round of action in Arthur Ashe Stadium, one such heavyweight, World No. 2 Simona Halep, will take on wild card entry Kateryna Bondarenko, and former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka will clash with Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.
Read on as we break down these two tantalizing matches set to take place in Flushing Meadows. If you’re in need of more coverage on the women of the WTA, head on over to our preview for the Williams sisters’ respective US Open second round matches here.
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2015 US Open Women’s Singles Second Round Previews
[sc:Other240banner ]After title victories in three of her first five events of the season, Simona Halep has since struggled to find her top form. At least she’s showing much more of a competitive edge as of late, making the finals of the past two tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati.
She still fell short of her supposed fourth and fifth titles of the year in those events, but you can sense that she’s bound to make a run in Flushing Meadows with a vengeance.
Halep caught a lucky break in the first round of the US Open when her opponent Marina Erakovic retired from the event due to an injured knee. It’s not as if Halep needed the help, though, as she was impressively in command of the match, which abruptly ended at 6-2, 3-0.
The Romanian won 87 percent of her first serve points, and contained Erakovic by not allowing her to attempt a single break point during their match. Halep even improved her record to 33-5 in hard-court matches this season.
Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko also handled her first round match with relative ease. The 29-year old dispatched Kazakhstani Yulia Putinseva in straight sets (6-0, 6-3) by winning 57 points to Putinseva’s 31 and converting on five of six break point attempts.
She’ll have her work cut out for her, though, going up against Halep. Bondarenko has only reached the quarterfinal stage once in her 17 WTA sanctioned tournaments of the season.
Victoria Azarenka would love to avoid going head-to-head with Serena Williams in Flushing Meadows at all costs. Three of her 11 losses this season came at the hands of the best female tennis player there is. To add insult to injury, both of her US Open runs from 2012 and 2013 were gut-wrenchingly put to an end by Williams in the final round of both events.
However, she has to get past several other contenders before thinking about clashing with Serena once again. Azarenka took care of business in the first round by routing Lucie Hradecka 6-1, 6-2 in just a little over an hour of play. The World No. 20 won all four of her break point chances and 88 percent of her first serve points.
Next up for Azarenka is Yanina Wickmayer, who extended her undefeated record to five matches against her US Open first round opponent Francesca Schiavone. The 25-year old Belgian connected on 71 percent of her points on second serve and four of her six break point attempts in their match this past Tuesday.
Wickmayer will now look to avenge her lone career loss to Azarenka from back in 2012. In that quarterfinal match in Doha, Azarenka put in three aces and won 63 percent of her return points to beat the Belgian 6-0, 6-4. However, a disappointing performance this season does not help Wickmayer’s case for an upset in the making. She has 11 opening round exits out of 19 events for the year.
Writer’s Prediction
Like Halep, Azarenka moves on to the third round with a straight-sets finish of her own.
