First Ball In, 8/29: A Friday Frenzy

“I mean, in a way I know I sound like and I feel like a little kid, like this is the first time ever happening. I don’t know, I love the feeling. I’m really happy.”

NEW YORK—Mirjana Lucic-Baroni had waited a long time for this moment. The 32-year-old made her debut here in 1997 at age 15, and reached the Wimbledon semifinals two years later. The sky appeared to be the limit for the talented young Croat. But that was before she fled from her father and coach, Marinko, whom she said had beaten her, for the United States. Before she vanished from the tour for the better part of seven years due to financial struggles. Before injury after injury kept her from ever making a proper comeback.

Finally, today, she could let all of the emotion, all of the elation she was meant to feel during those years, come pouring out. Looking nothing like her teenage self, Lucic-Baroni upset No. 2 seed Simon Halep, 7-6 (6), 6-2.

“I’m sorry, I’m goofy,” she said on court after the match, unable to stop the tears.

As for Halep, her reaction to the situation couldn't have been more different.

“Good mood I didn’t have,” she said of her mindset after she had squandered a 5-2 lead in the second set. She chalked the defeat to the ups and downs of the sport and the tour.

“She was better than me today,” Halep said, “so I just have to keep working hard every day and look forward to the next one...Everyone can beat you. I accept this situation. I have to go forward, because I had many good matches, many good results this year. So is not big, you know, problem that I lost today. It happened.”

Halep started well, but Lucic Baroni, who at 5’11” is five inches taller than the Romanian, is the more naturally powerful player. Once she broke back, got her teeth into the match, and started to believe she could play with the No. 2 seed, she never backed off. After the first set, the result was hardly in doubt.

Halep says the loss “is not a big problem.” Is she right? In the short term, yes, she’s still had an amazing season. But the loss does show that big hitters can trouble Halep—she has a good serve and good power for her size, but Lucic-Baroni was able to push her around the baseline. Halep also admitted that losing the first set got to her, and, as she tends to do, she began to rush when things didn’t go her way. If you’re going to be the world No. 2, you have to win when you're in a bad mood, too.

On court, Lucic-Baroni let a lifetime’s worth of emotion flow; in the interview room later, she seemed determined to let a lifetime’s worth of words flow as well. She called this “the best day of my life,” and it did feel like redemption. What struck me most was how much the feeling of winning a tennis match, an important tennis match, meant to her—she even apologized for loving it so much. Lucic-Baroni has been through far worse off court, but the simple joy of winning at a game could still make it all right again.

“I was so young and I was so good," she said when asked to compare her early years to now, "and I was winning so much that it wasn’t—even though it was exciting, it wasn’t really a big deal. It was just a natural progression. And now it’s just amazing. Every round is amazing.”

“Last year I played juniors here, and this year I’m in the fourth round. So it’s incredible.”

We’ve talked about teenagers a lot this week—Bellis, Kyrgios, Coric, Noah Rubin, Jared Donaldson—but is Belinda Bencic going to be the best of them all? She basically dismantled the No. 6 seed, Angelique Kerber, 6-1, 7-5, on Friday. She controlled the points, which was probably to be expected against the defensive-minded German. But I don’t think anyone expected Bencic to control them so thoroughly and easily—she did it without forcing herself to go for a lot of low-percentage shots. And the rallies were always on her racquet.

“I played a really good match right from the start,” said Bencic, who came to her press conference in a sponsor-packed jacket that made her look like a race-car driver. “And then I had a little timeout in the second....But then I’m happy I could turn it around. I started playing aggressive again.”

Bencic combines the natural power of a tall and rangy athlete with just enough feel and thoughtfulness to mix things up and give her game some texture. The latter is partly a product of the Swiss’ work with Martina Hingis’ mother and coach, Melanie Molitor.

“Almost everything I know, I know from her,” Bencic says, “She taught me really to play smart and to think on the court. Yeah, to have an overall game.”

Bencic will use that game against Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round. There’s a lot on the line, as their quarter has been devastated by upsets. Bencic could be the last teen standing here.

“No, no, no, not—no. No, I was not angry. I was with tension, with the adrenaline in the body, so I was just—I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain it.”

What Sara Errani was trying to explain was why she had shushed the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium after winning a key point in the deciding tiebreaker in her victory over Venus Williams on Friday.

“In the tiebreak I heard the crowd,” Errani said. “Never hear the crowd like that strong. I was shaking [because of] the crowd. Was unbelievable good. I think I will remember forever that moment. I was, ‘Now, you don’t scream.’ But of course the crowd was for her, totally for her. I don’t know why I did that.”

Errani did it because it was the heat of the moment in a tennis match, and in the heat of the moment you’ll do things that will make you red with embarrassment when you think about them later. Errani was right, of course, the crowd was always going to be for Venus. Anyone who beats an Italian player in Rome would probably love to shush them, too.

I get why Errani was fired up, but it still rubbed me the wrong way when, after the match was over, she wagged her finger as if to shush the audience again—she gave them the Full Mutumbo, as we might put it in the States. The match had been so good at the end, no one should have been told to keep quiet while they watched it.

See Saturday’s Order of Play here.

It’s Labor Day weekend, which means that the Open’s schedule gets turned upside down. CBS takes over in the afternoons; as the event’s biggest-paying broadcaster, it gets its pick of players, so the stars will be coming out during the day. You can already see the effect in Saturday’s schedule: 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios is the men’s night-session headliner in Arthur Ashe. Quite a stage for a guy who likes them large.

The ranks of the U.S. women are slowly dwindling, but Nicole Gibbs, who had never won a match at a major before this tournament and is ranked No. 136, has survived into the third round. Scheduling her on Ashe means the USTA is hopeful that she can survive a little longer. Why not? Winner: Gibbs

The American says he’s playing some of the best tennis of his career, but he’s going to have to play even better than that to beat the top seed. Djokovic is 7-1 against Querrey, and in virtually all of their matches Sam has found no way to hurt the Serb. Winner: Djokovic

Like Andy Roddick on Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros, Murray keeps getting thrown back on his personal danger court here, Louis Armstrong Stadium. This time he faces the wiry, and also possibly dangerous, Andrey Kuznetsov, who beat Fernando Verdasco last round. He and Murray have never faced each other. Winner: Kuznetsov

The diminutive Dominican (I bet you didn’t see that one coming) is one of the stories of the tournament, but he should be right up Raonic’s particular alley. Victor will need a proverbial step ladder to reach Milos’ kick serves. Winner: Raonic

The two Americans have played each other twice, and Serena has won in straight sets both times. Judging by her Slam results this year, though, she's due for at least a close call at some point. Have we reached that point? Winner: Williams

Two years, two third-round meetings between these guys here, two wins for Kohlschreiber. This time, with no particularly compelling evidence to point to, I think Isner turns it around. Winner: Isner

They’ve been two of the success stories of the women’s tour this year. Bouchard was more gritty than great in her last match, and BZS has pulled off major-tournament upsets before. Winner: Zahlavova Strycova

This one has late-night marathon written all over it, doesn't it? Kyrgios will be hard to break, and Robredo, the new king of the five-setter, will be even harder to put away. Winner: Robredo

Photos by Anita Aguilar