Vickery bows out of US Open

By Orin Davidson

Beaten but unbowed, was Sachia Vickery’s disposition after  suffering  elimination   in the  women’s singles of the U.S. Open tennis tournament yesterday.

The 17-year-old  player of Guyanese parents played her heart out but was outduelled by  the more experienced Julia Glushko, going down in straight sets 7-5 6-3 yesterday in the second round  on Court 4 at the Billie Jean King Complex, New York.

“I think I played really well this tournament but got nervous towards the end of both sets,”  Vickery told Stabroek News 

Sachia Vickery
Sachia Vickery

after  yesterday’s  85-minute battle.    The diminutive teenager was hoping to  impact  by  becoming one of the few  female wild-card entrants to reach the third round of the world’s premier hard court tournament.

“ I thought I could’ve beaten her  after the way things got started,   but I could not put it together  towards the end,” the youngster stated , referring to  the big point situations.  Her opponent, a world 128th- ranked contender,   seemed on the verge of an upset loss  as Vickery started out fast and ran up a 5-3 lead in the first set.

It was a battle from the baseline as the Florida-born Vickery, who dispatched Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia in the first round,  surprised Glushko  with powerful groundstrokes, taking her  to the cusp of a first set lead.

But when it mattered most, Vickery’s serve went awry and the Israeli   number one took advantage of  the teenager’s frustration with line calls that went against her.

With Court Four  not having the  benefit of  hawk-eye video replay equipment, Vickery could not challenge the calls  and she let her frustrations affect her game.

Glushko took advantage, breaking  Vickery at 5-4 and then reeled off three  more successive games to take the set. Things did not improve for the youngster  in the second set  and once she dropped serve in the fourth game, Glushko rode her momentum to seal the match and advance to her first Grand Slam third round.

In reaching the second round the Israeli had upended number 20 seed  Russian Nadia Petrova in the first round on Tuesday.

Vickery who clinched her first main draw US Open place with a wild card by virtue of her triumph in the United States Tennis Association (USTA)  18-and Under singles competition, will now have to build points in the future in qualifying competitions for  upcoming  Grand Slam and Tier One tournaments.

“I will have to discuss with my coach my plans for the rest of the year”, she said adding that she is done with junior competitions for the remainder of 2013.

Vickery who always plays  with Guyana flag colours on her  wrist sweat-bands,  said she is grateful to her many fans back in Guyana for their support. “ We got  many messages of congratulations after the first match and I am thankful,” the youngster stated.

She was  also grateful  for the presence of a  multitude of family members who cheered her on from courtside yesterday and also on Tuesday when the teenager defeated Lucic-Baroni.

Vickery is a close relative of former national footballers  Aubrey Hutson and Selwyn Hutson who hail from the mining town of Linden.  Her mother and father are also from the mining towns of Kwakwani and Linden.