Wawrinka out in first round; Kudla advances
3-time major champ falls to Young; JTCC product earns first win in Washington
WASHINGTON — Three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka made another quick exit at the Citi Open, losing, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), to Donald Young in the first round of the hard-court tournament Tuesday night.
This was Wawrinka’s first match since bowing out of Wimbledon in the second round and he fell to 6-11 this season as he works his way back from two operations on his left knee.
The only other time Wawrinka entered the U.S. Open tuneup in Washington, in 2010, he also lost his opener.
He and Young, an American ranked 234th who came into the day with just a 2-10 record in 2018, were supposed to play Monday night. But because of rain delays and a lengthy match before theirs, they only made it onto the court to warm up at 1 a.m., and then a downpour arrived, so the contest was postponed.
Wawrinka, who’s been as high as No. 3 and is now 198th, got broken in the first game Tuesday by dumping a forehand into the net; that turned out to be the match’s only break. Wawrinka then was two points from losing at 5-3 in the second-set tiebreaker. But a series of miscues by Young, including a double-fault at 5-4, sent them to a third set. This time, Young held on, and he’ll face 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori on Wednesday.
No. 1 seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev was scheduled to face Malek Jaziri in the main stadium’s final match Tuesday.
In earlier action, local product Denis Kudla — who is staying at his parents’ home in nearby Arlington, Va., this week — collected his first victory in seven attempts at the Citi Open, coming back to beat Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-4.
“This is always a place that I’ve wanted to win and I’ve always struggled here. My Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, Washington Gates open: Today, 1 p.m. record was pretty awful coming into today,” said Kudla, who had been 0-4 in main-draw matches and 0-2 in qualifying at the tournament. “Today it just came together.”
That match was suspended because of rain after just one game on Monday.
“That actually calmed me down,” said Kudla, a product of the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park. “I was pretty nervous yesterday. I don’t know if I would have played as well.”
Marcos Baghdatis, the 2010 runner-up, advanced with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Benoit Paire, who drew boos from spectators after a racket-breaking tantrum. Vasek Pospisil, a finalist in 2014, lost to 19-year-old Alex de Minaur, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3.
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki pulled out of the women’s draw because of an injured right leg, while defending champion Ekaterina Makarova lost her first-round match to Ana Bogdan 7-6 (2), 6-3.
No. 2 seed Sloane Stephens, the reigning U.S. Open champion, moved into the second round with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands. No. 3 Naomi Osaka beat Bernarda Pera 6-2, 7-6 (4), and No. 7 Donna Vekic defeated Caroline Dolehide 6-3, 6-4.
Wozniacki hasn’t played a match since losing in the second round at Wimbledon on July 4.
She nowhas less than a month to get ready for the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 27.
Early Tuesday morning, Andy Murray tested his surgically repaired hip, and he put aside a deficit and some real rust to win his first hard-court match in nearly 11⁄ years, coming back at the Citi Open to edge Mackenzie McDonald of the U.S., 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
“I enjoyed getting through that one — obviously, you see by the celebration,” Murray said after a match that began a little past 10 p.m. Monday because of a rain delay, and ended at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday.