US Open: Ram/Erlich lone Israelis left

Pe’er, Sela eliminated from the tournament.

By ALLON SINAI
Peer 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Peer 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Suffering humbling defeats in the early rounds of Grand Slam tournaments is becoming somewhat of a habit for Shahar Pe’er.
The 24-year-old Israeli, ranked No. 24 in the world, was sent packing by American wild-card and world No.
106 Sloane Stephens in the second round of the US Open on Thursday night, losing 6-1, 7-6 (4).
After being knocked out in the opening round of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon by players ranked outside the world’s top-80, Pe’er at least managed to reach the second round in New York, only to fall at the hands of an opponent she really should have beaten.
Pe’er made 38 unforced errors to hitting just 14 winners and squandered a chance to tie the match at one set all when she was serving in the ninth game of the second set.
“I told myself when I woke up this morning, I have to focus, be aggressive and play my game. I stuck to that pretty well today,” Stephens said.
“When she broke me for 5- 3 I thought, ‘Oh man, this is going to be a long night.’ I hung in there. I got my momentum back at 4-5. That helped me in the next few games.”
After losing to Roger Federer in straight-sets in the second round on Thursday, Dudi Sela has turned his focus to Israel’s upcoming Davis Cup tie against Canada.
Israel hosts the World Group playoff tie at the Canada Stadium in Ramat Hasharon over the weekend of September 16-18.
“It’s tough on the center court,” Sela said after losing 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to Federer. “I was very nervous from the beginning. Every shot he hit was a winner.
“If I played him on court 25 maybe I’d have a better chance.
“You want to go out there and give him a tough time, even though he’s one of the greatest players ever. But I had no chance against his serve. Zero chance.” Sela also told The Jerusalem Post that there’s no truth to the reports that he plans to move to live in the US.
“There was an article in an Israeli paper earlier this week reporting that I moved to the States,” Sela said.
“That is not true. I have a brother in New York and a sister who lives in Dallas, Texas. I like to visit them and I like to play here.”
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich faced No. 9 seeds Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in the second round of the doubles tournament late Saturday.
Howard Blas contributed to this report.