This year’s U.S. Open proved there is still a huge gap between the collegiate and pro ranks.
Mackie McDonald, the 2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion, won the first two sets against qualifier Jan Šátral, but the former Bruin couldn’t clinch a third and eventually crashed out of the first round 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. In the last three sets, McDonald’s service game faltered, as he was only able to get 48% of his first serves in play and racked up three double faults.
A similar scenario played out in McDonald and current junior Martin Redlicki’s first round doubles match against No. 1 seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. The Bruin stars had a set point serving 7-6 in the first set tiebreaker, but Herbert and Mahut fought back to win it 10-8. McDonald and Redlicki then faded in the second set, losing 6-1 to the Frenchmen.
Beyond McDonald and Redlicki, the first week at Flushing Meadows in general was challenging for past, current and future Bruins.
Incoming freshmen Jada Hart and Ena Shibahara fell in straight sets in the first round of women’s doubles, as did ‘00 alumna Abigail Spears. 2013 alumnus Nick Meister lost in the first round of men’s doubles and ‘03 alumnus Marcin Matkowski was only able to advance to the second round before falling to No. 4 seed Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.
Three UCLA alumni are still alive, however.
Dennis Novikov, who lost his opening-round men’s doubles match, is into the mixed doubles quarterfinals with 2013 Stanford alumna Nancy Gibbs. The duo barely escaped the first round by winning a third set super-tiebreaker 10-6 and then defeated No. 5 seed Hao-Ching Chan and Max Mirnyi in straight sets.
Spears is the other Bruin remaining in the mixed doubles bracket. She and her partner Santiago Gonzalez were U.S. Open mixed doubles runners-up in 2013 and 2014, and like Novikov and Gibbs, also won a third set super-tiebreaker in the first round. They will face Laura Siegemund and Mate Pavic in a second-round matchup Monday morning.
Should Spears and Gonzalez triumph, they will meet Novikov and Gibbs in the quarterfinals, where the winner will continue to the semis and look to become the first UCLA alumnus to win the Open’s mixed doubles since Patrick Galbraith won in 1996.
Former men’s doubles world No. 3 Jean-Julien Rojer is the final UCLA representative alive in the men’s double draw. The ‘02 alumnus and his partner Horia Tecau won their first two matches in straight sets – their third round match is against Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi on Monday afternoon.
The last alumnus to win the U.S. Open men’s doubles championship was Mark Knowles in 2004.