Seeded singles play was the focus on day two of the main draw at the D.C. Open in Rock Creek Park, with two former Grand Slam champions advancing along with upsets in each draw.
On the women’s side, six-seed Sofia Kenin ended D.C. native Hailey Baptiste’s singles run before it began, winning in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (4).
“I mean, really, really painful loss today. Just not at my best at all,” Baptiste said. “Not feeling good out there. Had some chances in the second set, but I wasn’t able to convert. So, I mean, just disappointed right now.”
Baptiste, who is ranked in the top 50 for the first time in her career, lived by her serve and also died by it — she cracked nine aces in the match but double-faulted five times. Baptiste also had a chance to serve for the second set and extend the match, but Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, broke her and closed out the match in the tiebreak
“I obviously wanted to really do well for D.C. and for myself. I just wanted to have a good week here at home,” Baptiste said. “But it didn’t happen this time, and I just gotta look past it and get back to work.”
Her hometown run isn’t over, as she and Venus Williams will have another full crowd on John Harris Court backing them Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles tournament.
“A lot of emotions here. But yeah, I have doubles still, and I have a few more tournaments before getting ready for U.S. Open,” Baptiste said.
Two upsets punctuated the afternoon action. Former U.S. Open champ Emma Raducanu outlasted No. 7 Marta Kostyuk, 7-6(4), 6-4, in a two set match that unusually lasted nearly two hours.
Six of the games in the first set went to deuce, and Kostyuk got an early break and a 3-1 lead. Raducanu immediately broke back, however, and traded service game wins with Kostyuk before winning the set tiebreak.
The Brit then broke Kostyuk in her final service game to win the match, potentially setting up a match with former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the second round.
On the men’s side, world No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti’s stay in the District was short-lived. The Italian and second seed here won the first set, but was outlasted by Cam Norrie 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Musetti had five chances to break the Brit in the deciding set, but didn’t convert a single one. Norrie faces American Brandon Nakashima in the second round after his straight-set win over Ethan Quinn.
Fan favorite Gael Monfils played in front of a capacity crowd for the second straight day, but his result was the same. The Frenchman fell to qualifier Yibing Wu of China, 6-3, 6-1.
The charismatic Monfils had fans packed into John Harris Court the same way he and Nick Kyrgios did in their first-round doubles loss Monday on Grandstand. But Monfils couldn’t convert his opportunities to get an advantage in the match, failing to break Wu’s serve on each of the four chances he had — with three of those coming in the deciding set. In the same department, Wu was a dominant 4-of-5.
One notable seed who won’t take part this week is No. 3 Holger Rune.
The Dane, ranked No. 9 in the world, withdrew due a back injury before his first match in the second round Tuesday night against Alexandre Muller. Corentin Moutet, who was the top seed in the qualifying round but lost to Wu, replaced him in the draw.
Rune received a main draw wildcard and had been practicing this week with five-time Washington champion Andre Agassi on his team as an advisor.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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