First Ball In, 8/22: Revival Day

The shadow of Arthur Ashe Stadium loomed over her shoulder, while Mirjana Lucic-Baroni's flickering U.S. Open dream was fading before her eyes.

Facing Sofia Shapatava in Friday's final round of qualifying on Court 11, the former Wimbledon semifinalist dumped her ninth double fault, then dropped serve for the sixth time. Shapatava built a 5-2 lead in the decider, eventually moving within two points of her first U.S. Open main-draw appearance.

Then the world No. 192 blinked and her shots sputtered. Lucic-Baroni, eyes concealed behind a pair of sunglasses, never lost sight of opportunity. The 32-year-old veteran reeled off five straight games, rallying past her increasingly twitchy opponent, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, to surge into the U.S. Open main draw for the sixth straight year.

Serving for the match at 5-2, Shapatava sailed her shots, gifting the break. She was a couple of points from victory at 15-30, but could not close. Lucic-Baroni blitzed a serve down the middle and followed with an inside-out forehand winner for 4-5. She won eight of the next nine points as Shapatava completely collapsed and could not find the court. When it was over, Lucic-Baroni dropped to her knees in joyful relief.

Lucic-Baroni has been around so long, when she won the U.S. Open junior crown in 1996 at age 14, Arthur Ashe Stadium didn't yet exist. The 119th-ranked Croatian, who lives in Florida, has not won a WTA main-draw match since she beat Bojana Jovanovski to reach the round of 16 in Strasbourg last May, but her mere presence in the Flushing Meadows main draw is the latest chapter in a comeback story of a player once regarded as a teenage phenom.

Nearly 18 years ago, Lucic-Baroni played through qualifying and reached the final of her first ITF event, falling to top-seeded Chanda Rubin. Coincidentally, Rubin served as television analyst for Lucic-Baroni's qualifying win today. In April of 1997 Lucic-Baroni won the first WTA tournament she entered in Bol, Croatia and reached the final of her second pro tournament in Strasbourg, falling to Steffi Graf. Less than a year later, in her first pro doubles event, Lucic-Baroni partnered Martina Hingis to become the youngest player in history to win an Australian Open doubles title at age 15 years, 10 months, and 21 days. She won two titles and reached the 1999 Wimbledon semifinals, but stepped away from the game after experiencing problems with her domineering father.

While her comeback playing hasn't produced a WTA title, Lucic-Baroni partnered Jelena Jankovic to reach the 2013 Wimbledon doubles quarterfinals. Her winning reaction to qualifying reinforced the belief chasing the dream can be revitalizing.

"Every match I win now, it's like winning an entire tournament," Lucic said at the Open a few years ago. "Before, I was really lucky and blessed to be so good when I was so young. I was winning tournaments and it was always normal. But once that has been sort of taken away for years you haven't had that feeling, you know, it's incredible. Every match gives me such satisfaction. I really enjoy it so much. And just the fact that I have the ability to do it again, I'm really happy out there."

Court 17 was pain pit for American men Ernesto Escobedo and Rajeev Ram on the final day of qualifying.

Eighteen-year-old Escobedo served for the first set against No. 4 seed Facundo Bagnis, but dumped two double faults and dropped serve. The American who was born on the Fourth of July strained his serving shoulder and never really recovered, as the 27-year-old Bagnis (at right) rallied for a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory to reach his first U.S. Open main draw in his fifth attempt to qualify.

Veteran Ram came achingly close to his sixth main draw appearance, only to bow to No. 7 seed Andreas Beck, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), in a thriller that closed the night's action on Court 17.

Escobedo, who knocked off former NCAA champion Somdev Devvarman in round one, aggravated his right shoulder injury hitting a high backhand overhead in the second game of the second set. He played through the pain to hold and had triple break point in the ensuing game. On the third break point, he was off the doubles alley when he hit a backhand down the line that narrowly missed the mark, and with no Hawk-Eye challenge system in effect for the qualies he could not challenge the call. Bagnis won the final five games to close out the match and deny Escobedo a $35,754 payday awarded to first-round competitors—significantly more prize money than he's earned the entire season.

"I'm lucky; in the first set he played so good," Bagnis told Katrina Adams after the match. "In the tiebreaker, I played a little bit better and he was having problems with his shoulder."

See Saturday’s Order of Play for New Haven here and for Winston-Salem here.

(7) Lukas Rosol vs. Jerzy Janowicz: Explosive servers have each produced breakthrough weeks. Rosol has reached his first career hard-court final, while Janowicz will contest his first final since the 2012 Paris Indoors. Both will want to dictate with their serves. Rosol will try to engage Janowicz in forehand rallies, while the 6'8" Pole-verizer, whose backhand is his most reliable groundstroke, will attack the Czech's two-hander. Former Wimbledon semifinalist Janowicz can be emotionally volatile—his "How many times?!" rant at the 2013 Australian Open is so notorious it generated a hip-hop remix—but he's kept relatively calm this week, going the distance three times, including rallying from a break down in the decider to beat Sam Querrey in the semifinals. Fifteen of Janowicz's 20 wins this season have come on hard courts.

Magdalena Rybarikova vs. (2) Petra Kvitova: The Wimbledon champion permitted just four games powering past Samantha Stosur to reach her third straight New Haven final. Rybarikova hit seven aces and denied all 11 break points she faced in overcoming Camila Giorgi—and fatigue from successive three-set wins over top-seeded Simona Halep and Alison Riske. Rybarikova's serve-forehand game has thrived on American hard courts: She's won three of her four career titles on U.S. soil. Kvitova has won four of five meetings with Rybarikova; this will be their first Tour-level clash and first hard-court meeting in nearly four years. Look for Kvitova, who has not surrendered a set this week, to hammer her lefty forehand crosscourt to the Slovak's weaker backhand wing.