TENNIS in DEPTH.

On the men’s side, No. 9 seed and 2007 US Open Boys’ Champion Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania qualified for his first US Open main draw, defeating American Kevin Kim, 6-1, 6-3.

Also qualifying Saturday was women’s No. 1 seed Akgul Amanmuradova if Uzbekistan, as well as No. 3 Monica Niculescu of Romania and No. 17 seed Nuria Llagostera Vivies of Spain, who held off teenager Laura Robson of Great Britain in three sets to reach the main draw. Among the seeded players, Maria Elena Camerin of Italy also qualified, defeating No. 11 seed Patricia Mayer of Austria, No. 12 Zuzana Kucova of Slovakia advanced, and Tamira Paszek upset No. 6 seed Evgeniya Rodina.

Robert Kendrick and Irina Falconi both qualified for the 2010 US Open on the last day of the qualifying tournament, with each bringing very different backgrounds into the tournament.

Kendrick, 30, is a veteran on the ATP Tour and will now play in his sixth US Open main draw. Falconi, 20, on the other hand, is a new professional player after two years as an All-American at Georgia Tech, and this will be her Grand Slam tournament debut.

Kendrick and Falconi are two of the 32 players (16 men and 16 women) who qualified for the 2010 Open between Friday and Saturday. The two Americans finished their third-round matches Saturday, with Kendrick defeating Tatsuma Ito of Japan, 6-3, 6-3, and Falconi defeating No. 25 seed Stephanie Dubois of Canada, 6-3, 6-1.

Kendrick, ranked No. 147 in the world, is thrilled to compete again in the main draw. He lost in the second round of the main draw last year to Tommy Haas.

“Every time is special,” he said of playing in the US Open. “It’s so hard to get into this tournament. These guys are just so good in qualifying.

“I’ve been all over the place. Fresno, live in Orlando, played in college at Washington and Pepperdine,” Kendrick added. “It’s nice to have people from all those places cheering for me. I just need to go and get some rest and get ready for the main draw.”

Falconi, who lived in New York City from age three until 14, was an All-American and the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in both of her seasons at Georgia Tech.

Also qualifying was No. 24 Kei Nishikori of Japan, who defeated Frank Dancevic of Canada, 6-4, 6-1. This will be Nishikori’s second US Open main draw. He last played the main draw in 2008, when he advanced to the fourth round.

Julio Silva of Brazil also qualified, defeating Wimbledon marathon man Nicolas Mahut of France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Mahut lost the longest match in tennis history to John Isner in the first round at Wimbledon this year, falling 70-68 in the fifth set.

Also, among the seeds, Milos Raonic of Canada upset No. 8 David Guez of France, 7-5, 6-4, and No. 23 Ivan Dodig of Croatia advanced over Noam Okun of Israel.

Bookmark It