He may consider himself slightly unfortunate to not have received a wildcard for this year’s main draw but young Canadian Denis Shapovalov cast aside any ill feeling to move into the qualification round for the US Open.
The youngster defeated Gastao Elias 6-3, 7-5. Shapovalov has not dropped a set in two rounds against Denis Kudla and Elias. Shapovalov will face the winner of young American Mackenzie McDonald and Jan Satral, who face off in a later match.
Other winners in the qualifying second round included veteran Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian defeated young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6, 6-4. 18th seed Maximilian Marterer survived a scare but defeated the American Dennis Novikov 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. He will face top seed Leonardo Mayer for the right to feature in the main draw. Mayer defeated France’s Gleb Sakharov 6-2, 6-1.
JC Aragone was the first American man to secure his progress to the final round of qualifying. Aragone, featuring in US Open Qualifying for the first time defeated Riccardo Bellotti 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. It is the second Italian that Aragone has defeated after he shocked the seeded Marco Cecchinato in the first round. Bradley Klahn nearly completed a memorable comeback but was just edged out by Guido Andreozzi, with the Argentine winning 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.
Akira Santillan had an easier match after his close encounter with Sebastian Ofner. Santillan defeated Uladzimir Ignatik 6-2, 6-3 to set a meeting with Aragone. There is also British interest in the final qualifying round as Cameron Norrie recovered from the loss of an early break to beat Sekou Bangoura 6-4, 7-5. He will face Go Soeda after the Japanese quickly defeated veteran Swiss Marco Chiudinelli.
Peter Gojowcyzk defeated Reilly Opelka for the second time this season. They had met in Indian Wells earlier this year and Gojowcyzk improved on his result there by defeating Opelka in straight sets this time 7-6, 6-2.
There wad disappointment for Christian Harrison, brother of Ryan, who was beaten heavily by Stefano Travaglia 6-3, 6-1.
In the bottom half there was disappointment for the heavily lauded Casper Ruud as the young Norwegian was ousted by Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-4. Ruud has failed to qualify for any Grand Slam event this season from three attempts. Bolelli will play Vincent Millot after the Frenchman defeated Tatsuma Ito 6-0, 6-4.
