US Open: Early Rounds

The first two rounds are in the books at the US Open, and half of the women's third round due to the staggered schedule, but I'm only going to cover the first rounds in this post.  There haven't been many monumental upsets yet in this tournament though early losses by Tsonga and Wozniacki certainly raised some eyebrows.  So here's a little of those seeds that have gone out, and the players they were replaced by in the draw.  If you're a top player, you really want to avoid mention in this post, because it means you haven't backed up your seeding.  The lower ranked American men have had a good tournament so far but the women have been disappointing, especially after their stellar '11 US Open.

Men's Seeds Out:  5) Tsonga (R2 l. to Klizan), 9) Monaco (R1 l. to Garcia-Lopez), 21) Haas (R1 l. to Gulbis), 22) Mayer (R1 l. to Sock), 24) Granollers (R2 l. to Blake), 26) Seppi (R1 l. to Robredo), 28) Youzhny (R1 l. to Muller), 29) Troicki (R1 l. to Stebe)

Men's seeds went 26-6 in round 1, and 24-2 in round 2.

Women's Seeds Out:  8) Wozniacki (R1 l. to Begu), 16) Lisicki (R1 l. to Cirstea), 17) Pavlyuchenkova (R2 l. to Mladenovic), 18) Goerges (R1 l. to Kr.Pliskova), 21) McHale (R1 l. to Bertens), 22) Schiavone (R1 l. to Stephens), 23) Clijsters (R2 l. to Robson), 24) Zakopalova (R1 l. to Hlavackova), 25) Wickmayer (R2 l. to Parmentier), 26) Niculescu (R1 l. to Morita), 27) Medina Garrigues (R1 l. to Hradecka), 29) Paszek (R1 l. to Govortsova), 32) Peng (R1 l. to Vesnina)

Women's seeds went 22-10 in round 1, and 19-3 in round 2.

A mere eight men's seeds are out, six in the first round.  Thirteen women's seeds are out (same as Wimbledon) but most were lower seeds, ten in the first round plus Zvonareva.  In the Aussie Open this year, 11 men's seeds were gone including 6 by the first round, and 12 women's seeds were gone but only 4 in the first round.  At this year's French Open, 10 men's seeds lost by this time including 5 in the first round, and 12 women's seeds had lost but 5 of those were in the first round.  And at Wimbledon, again 11 men's seeds lost early including 8 in the first round, and 13 women's seeds lost early including 8 in the first round.  So the women have had similar numbers in the past few majors but the men's seeds are taking care of business.

The real stunner is Wozniacki falling off a cliff.  She managed to end last year's slump with a win in New Haven and then reached the US Open SF.  Now her fall from grace is complete and is out of the top 10, rapidly following in the footsteps of Ivanovic and Jankovic.  It is sad to see.

Unseeded men in third round:  Fabio Fognini (ITA), Martin Klizan (SVK), Leonardo Mayer (ARG), Q) Grega Zemlja (SLO), James Blake (USA), Lleyton Hewitt (AUS), Jack Sock (USA), Steve Johnson (USA).  Kind of pitiful list there with four wild cards still alive, two veterans and two young Americans, giving some hope for the future.  Six qualifiers won first round matches but only Zemlja survived to R3.

Unseeded women in third round:  Ekaterina Marakova (RUS), Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL), Sloane Stephens (USA), Pauline Parmentier (FRA), Anna Tatishvili (GEO), Olga Govortsova (BLR), Andrea Hlavackova (CZE), Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP), Mandy Minella (LUX), Laura Robson (GBR), Q) Olga Puchkova (RUS), Kristina Mladenovic (FRA), Mallory Burdette (USA).  There are some more prominent names here when compared to the men's side with the first three listed.  This is finally the breakout British fans of Robson have been waiting for.  Qualifiers posted a winning in round 1 (9-7) but then went 1-8 in round 2 with only Puchkova still alive.

Eliminated '11 Quarterfinalists:  Nadal-F (w/d), Tsonga, Wozniacki-SF, Petkovic (R1 l. to Oprandi), Pennetta and Zvonareva (w/d), and Pavlyuchenkova).  Only 3 women who reached last year's quarters are left (Stosur, Serena, Kerber)

Fate of Americans:
Men:  12-8 in R1, 7-5 in R2.  Winners were Isner, Roddick, Fish, Querrey, Harrison, Baker, Blake, Smyczek, Johnson, Sock, Klahn, and Novikov.  Still alive are the four seeds and Blake, Johnson, and Sock.  R1 losers were Young, Russell, Ram, Reynolds, Ginepri, Levine, Williams, Kudla.  The future is bright based on these results.
Women:  5-11 in R1, 4-1 in R2.  Winners were Serena, Venus, Lepchenko, Stephens, and Burdette.  Only Venus lost in R2.  R1 losers were McHale, Oudin, Hampton, Falconi, King, Vandeweghe, Mattek-Sands, Gibbs, Crawford, Cohen, and Duval.