NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year (all times local):
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8:26 p.m.
The great Alexander Zverev knee-sock experiment is apparently over.
Zverev, the No. 4 seed and one of the game’s rising stars, stirred some social media snark in his first-round U.S. Open match Monday when he showed up wearing striped, knee-high socks that drew comparisons to Will Ferrell’s 1970s basketball character in the movie “Semi-Pro.”
While the lanky German still had the socks on in his second-round match Wednesday against Croatian Borna Coric, they were scrunched down to a more normal height above his ankles. Judging by some of the comments on Twitter, that was apparently a good move.
“I see Sasha Zverev has left his slutty tennis socks off tonight,” read one commenter.
Added another : “So glad A Zverev has opted for normal socks and not stockings today.”
Scrunched socks aside, Zverev was down two sets to one to the 61st-ranked Coric.
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8:15 p.m.
CoCo Vandeweghe wishes Maria Sharapova’s wild card went to someone else. Someone from the U.S.
Vandeweghe says she “can’t say I agree” with the U.S. Tennis Association’s decision to grant a wild card to Sharapova, the former U.S. Open champion who has advanced to the third round.
Vandeweghe, the No. 20 seed who beat fellow American Alison Riske 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, says she knows from previously receiving a wild card into the tournament that it can be a huge benefit to a young player or one returning from injury.
She says: “Selfishly, I would have wished it was an American.”
Sharapova needed a wild card because her ranking had fallen too low after she served a doping suspension. The USTA said when it was granted that its past practice was to award wild cards to former U.S. Open champions who needed them.
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7:45 p.m.
American Sam Querrey moved on to the U.S. Open’s third round with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Israel’s Dudi Sela.
The 17th-seeded Querrey hit 19 aces and had 35 winners, nearly three times as many as his opponent.
Querrey, who joins countryman John Isner in the third round, next faces the winner of the match underway between Radu Albot of Moldova and Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei.
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7:15 p.m.
Top-ranked American man John Isner had 30 aces in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, second-round victory over Hyeon Chung of South Korea.
The 10th-seeded Isner never lost his serve and fittingly hit his final ace on match point. He has 52 aces in the tournament, more than any other player.
Isner next faces the winner of the match currently underway between 23rd-seeded Mischa Zverev of Germany and Benoit Paire of France.
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6:35 p.m.
Maria Sharapova used 12 aces to help overcome a shaky start and reach the U.S. Open’s third round.
The five-time major champion got better and better as the match wore on and came back to beat 59th-ranked Timea Babos of Hungary 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1 in 2 hours, 19 minutes.
Sharapova is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since serving a 15-month doping suspension. She beat No. 2 seed Simona Halep in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
Sharapova made 19 unforced errors in the opening set against Babos, but cleaned up her play, cutting the mistakes to 12 in the second set and five in the third.
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6:10 p.m.
Maria Sharapova is headed to a third set in her second-round match at the U.S. Open against 59th-ranked Timea Babos of Hungary.
Sharapova grabbed the second set by a 6-4 score. Babos took the opening set 7-6 (4).
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5:15 p.m.
Maria Sharapova is in trouble at the U.S. Open after dropping the opening set of her second-round match against 59th-ranked Timea Babos of Hungary in a tiebreaker.
Sharapova is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since serving a 15-month doping suspension. The five-time major champion upset No. 2 seed Simona Halep in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
Sharapova’s game was filled with mistakes during the 7-6 (4) first set against Babos: 19 unforced errors, including four double-faults.
On the set’s last two points, Sharapova dumped a forehand into the net, then sailed another forehand long. Babos reacted with a loud yell.
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4:30 p.m.
Maria Sharapova is back on the same court where she pulled off one of the biggest wins of the tournament two days earlier.
Sharapova is facing Timea Babos of Hungary in a second-round match that she advanced to with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 2 seed Simona Halep on Monday night.
Sharapova is sporting a different look from that night, when she was wearing a black dress under the lights. Her outfit Wednesday afternoon is a light shade of that dress.
The former U.S. Open champion is in her first Grand Slam tournament following a 15-month drug suspension.
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2:40 p.m.
Nick Kyrgios couldn’t overcome problems with his shoulder or countryman John Millman.
The No. 14 seed from Australia was ousted in the first round with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 loss on Wednesday.
They had traded sets when Kyrgios called for treatment early in the third, and a trainer came out and massaged his right shoulder Kyrgios continued on but his level of play dropped off severely before he left in frustration, smashing his racket to the court after the match and carrying the busted one with him as he exited.
Also in the third set, Kyrgios got into an argument with chair umpire Carlos Ramos after being warned for using bad language. Kyrgios pleaded that he hadn’t said anything improper, but Ramos said a linesperson had reported to him. Said Ramos: “I cannot repeat what he said you said.”
Kyrgios had arrived in New York with momentum, reaching the finals in Cincinnati and beating Rafael Nadal along the way.
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12:55 p.m.
Evgeniya 1, Eugenie 0.
Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina pulled away after a close first set to beat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 7-6 (2), 6-1 in the first match completed on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
They had been scheduled to play on the Grandstand on Tuesday, but the match never started before play was suspended by rain. It was moved to the main stadium as officials try to fit in two days’ worth of matches Wednesday.
Bouchard could only shake her head in the second set as she sprayed shots all over the court en route to 46 unforced errors in the first meeting between the players.
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12:25 p.m.
U.S. Tennis Association officials are proud of Frances Tiafoe’s effort against Roger Federer.
The 19-year-old Tiafoe pushed the five-time U.S. Open champion to five sets on Tuesday night before falling 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.
Federer served for the match at 5-3 in the fifth set, but Tiafoe fought off a match point and then broke the No. 3 seed’s serve. Federer finally wrapped up the victory in the next game, but Martin Blackman, general manager of player development, said that showed how comfortable Tiafoe is on the big stage.
Blackman says that “you don’t break Roger Federer 5-3 in the fifth unless you really believe that you can win that match, and that’s something you can’t teach.”
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11:30 a.m.
Dominic Thiem didn’t need long to finish off his first-round victory once play resumed.
The No. 6 seed wrapped up a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 rout of Australian Alex di Minaur, not long after they returned to the Grandstand.
Thiem had won the first two sets and the opening game of the third on Tuesday before their match was halted by rain.
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10:03 a.m.
Time to play catch-up at the U.S. Open.
There were 87 singles matches scheduled for Wednesday after rain wiped out nearly all of the day’s play on Tuesday. Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams were among the players set for second-round matches, while many others were still playing first-round matches that either didn’t finish or couldn’t even start Tuesday.
The weather shouldn’t be a problem Wednesday, with sunny skies and nearly perfect conditions.
Sharapova will be back on the same Arthur Ashe Stadium court where she edged No. 2 seed Simona Halep on Monday night in her return to Grand Slam tennis. She faces Timea Babos of Hungary.
Williams, the No. 9 seed, plays Oceane Dodin of France at night.
Only nine matches were able to be completed Tuesday, including victories by top-ranked Rafael Nadal and five-time champion Roger Federer.
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