WASHINGTON — Sam Querrey made a triumphant start to his first event since stunning top-ranked Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, rallying Tuesday to reach the third round of the ATP and WTA Washington Open.
The 28-year-old American outlasted compatriot Bjorn Fratangelo 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4, avenging a first-round French Open loss in May and spoiling his rival’s 23rd birthday in the first hardcourt event on the road to the US Open.
“Even without the Novak win, it would have been tough,” Querrey said. “It was one of those matches you have to fight through and I’m happy I fought through the way I did.”
Eighth seed Querrey downed Djokovic in the third round on Wimbledon grass, ending the Serb’s 30-match major win streak on his way to his first career Grand Slam quarter-final after 10 years of trying, where he lost to Canada’s Milos Raonic.
“I feel the same, maybe a little cooler,” Querrey said. “I’m confident. Beating Novak or not, I’m feeling confident.”
On the women’s side, Japan’s Risa Ozaki second-seeded beat defending champion Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1. The 136th-ranked Asian standout needed only 56 minutes to rout the 23rd-ranked American.
“I would say (it was) all me. She played a solid match but I helped a lot,” Stephens said.
It was Querrey’s first hardcourt match in more than three months and his first night match in some time, but the world No. 29 did not drop his level after dropping the first set to a foe rated 79 spots below him.
Next up for Querrey is Ukraine’s 11th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov, who edged Australian Jordan Thompson 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4).
Puerto Rican third seed Monica Puig outfought France’s Oceane Dodin 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to advance into the second round. She could face Aussie top seed Samantha Stosur in the semifinals.
Earlier in the day, fifth-seeded Eugenie Bouchard was upset by Italy’s Camila Giorgi, 7-5, 6-4, marking the fourth time in the Canadian’s past 10 tournaments that she lost her opening match. She most recently reached the round of 32 at Wimbledon before losing to Dominika Cibulkova.
In other women’s play, American Christina McHale upset eighth-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-3, 6-4. The New Jersey native will next face Jessica Pegula. On the men’s side, 12th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov lost 6-4, 6-4 to Great Britain’s Daniel Evans.
Riske rallies to advance
Alison Riske overcame some third-set jitters to beat Varvara Lepchenko 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) and advance to the second round Tuesday at the WTA Tour’s Stanford tournament.
She next plays Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan.
In the night session 17-year-old American Catherine Bellis posted her first main draw win of the season outlasting fellow teen Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
In other matches Tuesday, Poland’s Magda Linette beat Czech Kristyna Pliskova 2-6, 6-2, 7-5; American wildcard Julia Boserup beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and Urszula Radwanska of Poland toppled Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 7-5.
Beck and Errani in 2nd round
Fourth-seeded Annika Beck beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 7-5, 7-5 to advance to the second round of the Stockholm Open on Tuesday, and turn the page on a shock defeat in Switzerland last week.
Second-seeded Sara Errani of Italy beat Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 6-2, 6-3 and Laura Siegemund of Germany defeated Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-1, 6-2.
In other first-round matches, American Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated third-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan retired with a back injury in the third set to give Mona Barthel of Germany a 4-6, 6-3, 3-0 win.
In an all-Swedish contest, eighth-seeded Johanna Larsson beat Rebecca Peterson 7-6 (3), 6-2, and in a Baltic clash Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia defeated Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-2, 6-4
Julia Goerges of Germany ousted Polona Hercog of Slovenia, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4 and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland beat Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Lucie Hradecka, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Lara Arruabarrena and Katerina Siniakova also advanced.
Gasquet out of Rio
Frenchman Richard Gasquet has pulled out of next month’s Rio Olympics because of a back injury with Benoit Paire taking his place, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) said Monday.
It is the second time the 30-year-old, who won doubles bronze with Julien Benneteau in London four years ago, has pulled out of the Games after he also missed Beijing in 2008.
Gasquet, the world No. 14, has not played since pulling out of his fourth-round encounter with compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon earlier this month.
