US Open Main Draw Qualifer Preview; Junior Wildcard Up for Grabs

First of all, I would like to add in terms of that 8^th Wildcard up for grabs for the Boy’s Singles, this wildcard may be saved for Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. Kokkinakis is ranked 896 in the world in Men’s Singles. This would be his fifth junior grand slam (3 previous appearances at the Australian Open, 1 at Wimbledon). With also relying on wildcards for those events, he has made the best out of his ones for the 2013 season. Kokkinakis reached the final of the Australian Open Boy’s Singles (losing to doubles partner Nick Krygios) and with Krygios won the Wimbledon Boy’s Doubles title. It would seem with Kokkinakis recently playing futures events in Canada, he will likely make an appearance for the US Open Boy’s tournament. Another possibility is UVA commit Thai-Son Kwiatkowski who is not entered in the tournament as well, but with an injury that kept him out from the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, most likely this wildcard spot is not for Kwiatkowski.

Secondly, here is a list of those players who won their three qualifying matches, earning a place in the main draw for Men’s Singles

1. Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan

2. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia

3. Florent Serra, France

4. Phillip Petzschner, Germany

5. Rogerio Dutra Silva, Brazil

6. Somdev Devvarman, India

7. Thomas Fabbiano, Italy

8. Donald Young, USA

9. Nick Krygios, Australia

10. Frank Devancic, Canada

11. Peter Gojowczyk, Germany

12. Go Soeda, Japan

13. Daniel Evans, Great Britain

14. Maximo Gonzalez, Argentina

15. Stephane Robert, France

16. Albano Olivetti, France

Here is the list of first round matchups for these qualifiers:

Igor Sijsling (NED) vs. Peter Gojowczyk (GER)

Donald Young (USA) vs. Martin Klizan (SVK)

Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs. Somdev Devvarman (IND)

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs. James Blake (USA)

Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) vs. Go Soeda (JPN)

Stephane Robert (FRA) vs. Albano Olivetti (FRA)

Florent Serra (FRA) vs. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) vs. Milos Raonic (CAN)

Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) vs. Jerzy Janowicz (POL)

Jack Sock (USA) vs. Phillip Petzschner (GER)

Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs. Andrej Martin (SVK) (Lucky Loser)

Nick Krygios (AUS) vs. David Ferrer (ESP)

Frank Devancic (CAN) vs. Robin Haase (NED)

Daniel Evans (GBR) vs. Kei Nishikori (JPN)

Rogerio Dutra Silva (BRA) vs. Vasek Pospisil (CAN)

Out of the qualifiers, Ivo Karlovic has the firepower and experience to go the furthest. However, his potential second round match up with 9 seed Stan Wawrinka may stop him (although I think that’d be a good match). American Donald Young has an interesting draw, having Slovak Martin Klizan in the first round. If Young were to get past him, don’t be surprised to see Young in the third round against Andy Murray. As what happens sometimes, two qualifiers got paired up against each other in the first round (Stephane Robert (FRA) vs. Albano Olivetti (FRA)). Even more ironically as seen, these two are both from France.  The most intriguing matchup I see in the first round amongst the qualifiers is the matchup between qualifier Phillip Petzschner from Germany and American Jack Sock. This is Sock’s fourth US Open Main Draw (5^th Total), advancing a round farther each year as he won two matches before losing in the third round last year. On his first direct acceptance into the US Open, it’ll be interesting to see if Sock can make some more noise in Flushing Meadows this year.