Khachanov Outlasts Rubin to Reach U.S. Open Main Draw

August 26, 2016 | By Brian Coleman

Long Island’s Noah Rubin had his U.S. Open qualifying round come to an end on Friday afternoon in front of a capacity crowd on Court 11 of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as third-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov outlasted Rubin 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to qualify for the 2016 U.S. Open main draw.

Rubin got off to a slow start in the opening set, but was able to set up two break points on Khachanov’s serve early, but the Russian dug in and erased both of them, eventually getting the break he needed to take the opening set in 29 minutes.

But as he did all week in Flushing Meadows, Rubin responded in the second set, securing a break point midway through the set and held all of his service games, taking the second set 6-4 to force the match into a deciding third.

Rubin would fall behind a break early, however, and was climbing uphill the rest of the match. At 2-5, he stayed in the match with a key hold of serve, and with the crowd getting behind him, was able to break Khachanov’s serve to bring the set back on serve at 4-5.

While serving to stay in the match, Rubin’s serve continued to let him down, and on match point, he double-faulted, sealing Khachanov’s spot in the U.S. Open main draw.

Rubin only got 60 percent of his first serves in, while Khachaov was much more efficient on his own serve, winning 76 percent of his first serve points and firing nine aces.

“He always fights really hard, and matches like this are learning experiences,” said Lawrence Kleger, director of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy and Rubin’s coach. “This one will sting for a while, but then he’ll analyze what he needs to work on. He’s been really good at that. Each match he plays, he always come a back a little better in the next one. I think his best tennis is definitely ahead of him.”

Earlier in the day, American Ryan Harrison became the first player through to the main draw with a quick 6-3, 6-2 victory over Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen. Harrison converted on four of his seven break point chances and won 81 percent of his first serve points to reach the U.S. Open main draw in just 54 minutes.

Fellow American Jared Donaldson also made quick work of his third-round qualifying opponent, blowing past Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-2, 6-2 in a little over an hour.

On the women’s side, Americans CiCi Bellis and Jessica Pegula pushed through into the main draw with hard fought three-set wins.

Bellis breezed through the opening set against the seventh-seeded Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck 6-2, before dropping the second set in a tie-breaker, the first set she had lost all week. But the 17-year-old responded in the third, converting on two break points and not allowing a single break point on her serve to advance with the 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2 victory.

Pegula lost the opening set of her match, but rebounded by winning 12 of the next 15 games to breeze past 10th-seeded Risa Ozaki 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 and advance.

Credit all photos to Brian Coleman

With a win Friday, third-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov qualified for the 2016 U.S. Open main draw

 


American CiCi Bellis qualified for the main draw of the 2016 U.S. Open on Friday after a win over Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck

 


Long Island's Noah Rubin failed to qualify for the main draw of the 2016 U.S. Open after a Friday afternoon loss to Russian Karen Khachanov 

 


Brian Coleman

 Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for New York Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com

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