Top seeds Simona Halep (No. 2) and Angelique Kerber have (No. 11) have handled their business and made relatively short work of their first two US Open opponents. However, their third round assignments – Shelby Rogers and Victoria Azarenka – have been very impressive as well, and will be eager to extend their stay at Flushing at the expense of their higher-seeded foes.
Find out all you need to know about these two terrific third round matchups in the women’s draw. Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out the choice matches over on the men’s draw on Saturday, Federer vs. Kohlschreiber and Murray vs. Bellucci, over here.
Simona Halep has had a relatively easy ride to the round of 32. The World No. 2 spent just 47 minutes against Marina Erakovic, as she won 6-2, 3-0 due to Erakovic’s retirement. Halep had a much more productive challenge against Kateryna Bondarenko, but she still won comfortably, 6-3, 6-4.
[sc:Other240banner ]Halep has had a lot of difficulty closing out tournaments, but she goes pretty deep into them, especially on hard court. She’s 33-4 on the surface, and reached the final in both of her pre-US Open tournaments.
Shelby Rogers has had anything but an easy ride in her US Open. The 22-year-old American will already be playing her sixth match of the tournament after going through three qualifying rounds just to make the round of 128. But the World No. 154 has been one of the surprises of the tournament thus far, proving she belongs in the round of 32 by sweeping past both Sachia Vickery and Kurumi Nara in straight-sets.
Rogers has made the most of her break point opportunities, winning nine of 18 possible break points in the tournament. She’ll need to continue capitalizing on those chances against the World No. 2 Halep, who has crashed out of the third round or earlier in four of her five career trips to Flushing.
After breezing past her first round matchup in just over an hour, World No. 20 Victoria Azarenka withstood the stern challenge of Yanina Wickmayer to prevail 7-5, 6-4. Azarenka’s service game was a bit off as she committed five double faults and won just 61 percent of her first serve points. Her serve was also broken three times.
However, the two-time US Open finalist should find a much more favorable matchup waiting for her in the third round against Angelique Kerber. Azarenka has won all four of the matches she’s played against the German, three on hard court. She dismantled Kerber in their most recent meeting in Doha earlier this year, 6-0, 6-3.
Despite being the higher seed, No. 11 Kerber is in danger of crashing out in the third round at Flusing for the second-straight year. Her recent form should provide some optimism, though. She breezed by Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3, 6-1 in the first round before taking another straight-sets win over Karin Knapp, 7-5, 6-2.
Writer’s Prediction
Azarenka once again gets the better of Kerber in straight sets.
