Tomas Machac is the winner of the US Open qualification! Czech Republic has three winners among women!

The qualifying tournaments for the US Open were played from Tuesday, August 23 to Friday, August 26. 128 players/players participated in the tournament and at least 16 qualifiers emerged. The Czech Republic had four representatives among both men and women.

Men

Jonáš Forejtek lost a three-set battle after 4::6, 6::4 and 3::6 sets to Italian Bonadio in the opening round. Another Czech among the men was Dalibor Svrčina. He also played a difficult match of 3 sets, but this time with a winning ending.

Frenchman Lokoli was not enough for Svrcina. Dalibor missed the first set very much, which he lost by 1::6. But he turned the match around after the next sets 6::4 and 6::2. For the Czech colours, the duel between Zdeněk Kolář and Tomáš Macháč brought a sad draw.

The favoured Tomas Machac finally advanced, but it was again a three-set battle. The opening set was narrowly won by Macháč 7::5 and the second by Kolář 4::6. The deciding set was clearly in Macháč’s hands, who won it 6::1, which meant a sad end for the solidly playing Kolář.

In the second round Svrcin was stopped by the Austrian Novak, who was ranked almost 100 places higher. He clearly won the match in two sets. This left us with the last Czech in the pool, and since Machac also managed his second round match against Kovalik 7::6 and 6::3, he could look forward to the final qualification round.

He was up against Italian Cobolli for the main part of the US Open. Machac was a big favourite before the match, given his current form. The last tournament before this qualification that Tomas participated in was the Polish Challenger, where he was undefeated. The odds of him winning were around 1.35.

And the predictions came true. It was definitely not an easy match, but the result is important. And the Czech is happy about it! After 6::7, 7::5 and 6::1 sets, Tomáš made it to the main part of the tournament.

Women

Among the women, the Czech representation was even wider. Jesika Malečková said goodbye to hope in the opening round. She was not able to beat the Ukrainian Baindlova, whom she lost twice 4::6. On the other hand, Linda Fruhvirtová, who defeated the Swiss In-Albonová, and Linda Nosková, whose opponent was the Polish Kawaová, won their opening duels 2: 0.

The famous opponent was waiting for Sara Bejlek in the opening round. However, she defeated Kristina Mladenovic after 6::4, 1::6 and 6::4 sets. That’s all from the Czech participation in the first round. 3 players out of 4 made it through.

Another famous name, but more from the world of social media than from the world of tennis, awaited Noskova at the start of the second round. It was Eugenie Bouchard from neighbouring Canada. The Czech, however, scored a smooth 6:2 and 6:3 win.

Fruhvirtova also showed her form and dominance. She swept the Brazilian Alves 6: 0 and 6: 2. Two sets were enough for Sara Bejlek to advance through the second round, but she was not beaten by Honova from Australia.

Three Czechs made it to the final qualification round, i.e. the main part of the last Grand Slam of the year. First, Noskova faced Russia’s Zakharova in the afternoon. Linda handled the duel very skilfully, she was dominant and the better player throughout the match and took a well-deserved victory 6::2 and 7::5.

At the same time, at 17::10, Fruhvirt also played her last qualification match. At the end of the third set the match was interrupted by rain when Linda was about to serve for the win. However, the break did not decide her. The elder of the Wonder Sisters will now also take part in the main part of the competition. After 6:4, 3:6 and 6:3 she defeated Paquet from France.

Last to play was Bejlek, whose match with Heather Watson was postponed and interrupted several times due to rain. In addition, there were 13 break points in the match. It was truly a wild ride, but with a happy ending for the Czech colours. After losing the first set, Sara managed to reverse the unfavourable situation and she will also play at the US Open. After sets 3::6, 6::4 and 7::5 she defeated the favoured Watsova.

All in all, it was a successful qualification. Of the women, 3 out of the 4 participating girls made it through to the main draw. That’s a great record. Plus, it’s important to remember that this is once again the promising future generation. None of the girls are even 18 years old yet. The Czech youth is taking the US Open by storm and we have a lot to look forward to.

Sources