Scenes from Queens, Day 3: Drama abounds as Keys rallies late, Cachin halts Holt and Riske edges Osorio; first looks at Mandlik and Stearns

WATCH: There are plenty of Americans in action on Day 3 of the US Open

Keys rallies to beat Giorgi

NEW YORK—Rare is the occasion when Madison Keys is the one on defense. But that was the case today inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, as the 20th-seeded Keys went down 2-5 in the third set of a second-round match versus Camila Giorgi.

To play Giorgi is to enter tennis purgatory. Will she hit winner after winner from any part of the court, regardless of score? Or will errors surface in swift succession?

Power is also Keys’ primary asset. So it was that the two engaged in frequent high-octane rallies, a fine fit for the energy of a filled-up Armstrong—a stadium with its own distinct mix of sunshine and shadows, hum and buzz.

There came Giorgi’s moment to serve for the match at 5-3. It was hard to imagine this happening smoothly. Sure enough, a wide forehand and a netted backhand put Giorgi down love-30. Keys eventually broke at 30 and soon it was 6-all in the third.

Keys’ serve—eight aces and a snappy 63 percent of second serve points won—helped her stay in the match and, in the decisive tiebreaker, get off to a 4-0 lead. Giorgi rallied to serve at 5-7. But then, a Giorgi forehand went long to give Keys a comfortable 8-5 lead. Soon enough, Keys closed out an impressive comeback, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (10-6).—Joel Drucker

Escaping the sun in the Tunnel of Great Vibes

“It’s crazy how they just walk right by you,” one young US Open fan standing in front of me whispered to his friend. ‘They’ in this case were American players Frances Tiafoe and Dennis Kudla, who had just been warming up on Practice Court 5 for their doubles match on Court 4.

Shaded by bleachers, the space in between Practice Courts 1-5 and Match Courts 4-6 is the place to be during the first week of the Open. Face north, and fans get a court-level view of the top players warming up or practicing their strokes: within the space of an hour or so, Jack Draper, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Anett Kontaveit and Jelena Ostapenko took their turns on the courts on Wednesday.

But get caught watching for too long, and they might miss the action right behind them—that is, until an usher shouts out, “Players coming through! Step aside!” Everyone glued to Auger-Aliassime’s practice whirled around as Tiafoe and Kudla breezed through behind us, racquet bags shouldered and game faces on, the small crowd making way.

Right outside the tunnel, the crowd of fans gathered by the Arthur Ashe Stadium player entrance had ballooned.

“Who are you waiting for?” I asked a family armed with phones and oversized tennis balls dotted with autographs. “Venus is coming!” they replied excitedly, “Her name popped up on the practice schedule.” An informal poll revealed most of the crowd weren’t even expecting her to stop for autographs, but no one around me seemed too fussed about that.

Just catching a glimpse of her—just seeing the players walk by, live and in person, a few yards away—was unforgettable enough. —Stephanie Livaudais

The folklore beneath Court 17

NEW YORK—If a Taylor Swift song took place on a tennis court, it’d be the US Open’s quaintly prestigious Court 17. Erected with permanent seating exactly one decade ago, the outermost outer court is decked in the final vestiges of the red brick that makes it like a mini-Ashe Stadium—subsequent updates have seen the tournament lean into a more concrete jungle aesthetic.

The court itself has a vibe that is both romantic and imperfect: while there are no bad angles, there are plenty of bad seats, most of which are situated in full afternoon sun save for the rows behind the far court baseline. The result is an uneven effect for matches that don’t command capacity.

That wouldn’t be a problem today as Miss Americana Alison-Riske Amritraj and Camila Osorio filled the stands for three titanic sets until the No. 29 seed survived, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (10-5). Riske-Amritraj, who married into the last great American tennis dynasty in 2019, had strong support from the outset but had to work hard against the combined efforts of Osorio and her merry band of Colombian supporters.

Rallying from a double break down, she had a marvelous time ruining everything for the former junior champ as she converted her fifth match point to book only her second third-round in 11 previous appearances.—David Kane

Cachin rallies for another fifth-set breaker win, this time over Holt

NEW YORK—On Court 12, just short of 3:00 p.m., two weary men packed their bags. Nearly four hours after they’d entered the court to play this second-round match, 66th-ranked Pedro Cachin had beaten qualifier Brandon Holt, 1-6, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (10-6).

Early on, Holt—who upset fellow American Taylor Fritz in the first round—dominated. Then came Cachin, an Argentine armed with a powerful topspin forehand and the ability to both drive and slice his backhand. Like Holt, Cachin was making his US Open main-draw debut.

A major plot point came in the fourth set. Serving at 2-4, 15-30, Cachin hit a 115-m.p.h. ace and went on to hold serve. In the next game, he broke Holt at love.

The crowd was quintessential US Open, heavily cheering on the American (including his mother, two-time tournament champion Tracy Austin). But Cachin had his own passionate fan base—three cousins, an aunt and his godfather, each wearing a T-shirt with one letter from his first name, shouting out “Pedro” on various changeovers from the northeast corner of the court.

Upon winning, Cachin fell on his stomach. Making his way to the bench, Cachin placed a towel on his head and just sat. One man had won. One man had lost. But most of all, the two had competed, tennis’ raw and powerful beauty greatly revealed.—Joel Drucker

Peyton Stearns handles bad luck like a pro

NEW YORK—Twenty-year-old, 347th-ranked American Peyton Stearns, who won the NCAA women’s singles title for the University of Texas in May, looked like she had some momentum in the third set against 28th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Tuesday night. Stearns’ forehand was firing, and a small but vocal Longhorn support group was making its presence felt on Court 7.

Then it rained and play was called.

When the two players returned on Wednesday morning, Alexandrova reached match point on her serve at 6-5. Stearns fired a forehand return that backed Alexandrova up. All the Russian could do was block the ball, which floated limply toward the net, and, to the surprise of just about everyone watching, clipped the top of the tape and fell over for a winner. Match, unbelievably, over.

A lot of players might have protested to the tennis gods, or smashed their racquets in rage, but Stearns shook an apologetic Alexandrova’s hand, walked to her chair, and calmly packed her racquet into her racquet bag. If she was gutted—which she must have been—she did a good job covering it up and staying polite about it all.

The tour is tough enough without bad luck like that, but Stearns handled it like the pro she’s going to be.—Steve Tignor

Elizabeth Mandlik shows familiar instinct in loss to Jabeur

NEW YORK—It was hard to say how many people in the Grandstand on Wednesday morning knew they were watching the child of a US Open champion. Florida native Elizabeth Mandlik is the daughter of Hana Mandlikova, but she shares a last name with her grandfather, Vilém, an Olympic sprinter for Czechoslovakia in the 1950s.

Hana was on hand for Elizabeth’s second-round match, anonymous under a baseball cap. Even those familiar with her game probably didn’t see much resemblance in her daughter’s. Hana was long, lean, and used a smooth one-handed backhand to glide forward; Elizabeth, who goes by Elli, is a 21st-century update. She’s speedy and has an instinct for the attack, too, but she does it the way someone who lives in tennis-mad Bradenton would: With a semi-Western forehand and potent two-handed backhand.

At 21, Mandlik is ranked 144, but she’s made strides on the ITF Circuit. She made another this morning, when she nearly took the first set from No. 5 seed Ons Jabeur. Mandlik knocked Jabeur back with forceful returns and put herself two points from the set. Then, perhaps predictably, she couldn’t put a ball in the court.

Jabeur moved on, but Mandlik, a late-bloomer who wanted to be a skier until her mid-teens, is a player—and a bloodline—for U.S. fans to watch.—Steve Tignor