Keys Holds Off Korneeva in New York as the Challenger Circuit Delivers Three-Set Attrition
Madison Keys came through a demanding first-round test against Alina Korneeva 7-5 6-4 at the US Open, while long afternoons in Porto, Plovdiv, Como, Mallorca and Zhangjiagang produced a run of deciding sets and narrow escapes.
Pedro Martinez6-1
Lorenzo Carboni- 0
- Aces
- 1
- 1
- Double faults
- 1
- 64%
- 1st serve in
- 58%
- 89%
Madison Keys provided the headline result of the day at Flushing Meadows, beating Alina Korneeva 7-5 6-4 in the first round of the US Open. Neither set was straightforward: Keys had to work deep into the opener before breaking clear at 6-5, and the second followed a similar pattern, the American controlling the decisive moments rather than the match as a whole. Against an opponent with nothing to protect and a willingness to trade from the baseline, the scoreline reads far tighter than a two-set win usually suggests.
Away from New York, the Challenger calendar carried the bulk of the day's play, and it did so the hard way. At Porto 2 on clay, Alejandro Moro Canas recovered from a set down to beat home player Tiago Cacao 3-6 6-1 6-4, the middle set effectively deciding the match. Dimitar Kuzmanov also needed three, edging Olukayode Alafia Damina Ayeni 6-2 1-6 6-3 after a chastening second set, while Miguel Damas survived the longest sequence of swings on the site, holding off Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo 7-5 1-6 7-5.
The more emphatic Porto performances came from Hugo Dellien and Facundo Mena. Dellien dispatched Frederico Ferreira Silva 6-3 6-3 with the kind of controlled clay-court baseline work that has long been his calling card, and Mena beat Patrick Schoen 6-4 6-2. Gilles Arnaud Bailly completed the day's list of winners there, taking a first-set tie-break against Alex Barrena and pulling away for a 7-6 6-3 victory.
Plovdiv 3 offered a similar mix. Yanaki Milev delighted the local support by beating Petr Nesterov 7-6 3-6 6-4 in an all-Bulgarian contest, and Maxim Mrva recovered from losing a second-set tie-break to overwhelm Oleg Prihodko 7-5 6-7 6-1. Federico Iannaccone reversed an opening-set deficit against Juan Estevez, winning 4-6 6-3 6-1, and Mykyta Mashtakov held his nerve twice to see off Stefan Popovic 7-5 7-6. The cleanest work belonged to Juan Manuel La Serna, a 6-1 6-2 winner over Alexander Vasilev, and Ignacio Parisca, who beat Filip Jeff Planinsek 6-2 6-4. Valerio Aboian's meeting with Marko Topo is recorded only as 6-1, the match ending before a second set could be completed.
In Como, Pedro Martinez was through after a 6-1 set against Lorenzo Carboni, another contest that did not run its full course. Duje Ajdukovic needed a tie-break to settle the opening set before beating Raul Brancaccio 7-6 6-2, Jay Clarke was efficient in a 6-2 6-4 win over Francesco Forti, and Juan Cruz Martin Manzano closed with a bagel to beat Fausto Tabacco 6-3 3-6 6-0. Andrej Nedic produced the site's best recovery, coming from a set down to edge Stefanos Sakellaridis 2-6 6-3 7-6.
On the Mallorca hard courts, Remy Bertola ended Jerome Kym's week 4-6 6-3 7-6 in the day's tightest finish, and Jack Pinnington Jones also turned around a lost opening set to beat Moez Echargui 2-6 6-4 6-4. Joel Schwaerzler needed three to get past Max Basing 6-3 6-7 6-4, while Billy Harris was the most economical of the group, beating Hugo Grenier 6-2 7-6. In Zhangjiagang, Akira Santillan was clinical against Omar Jasika, winning 6-2 6-3, and Ilya Ivashka came through 3-6 7-6 6-3 against Yi Zhou, the second-set tie-break the hinge of the match.
