Black Tennis Pros

(L-R) Serena Williams, USA, Sloane Stephens, USA, James Blake, USA, Venus Williams, USA and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France all shown post-match on Day 4 of the 2012 US Open.

American Sloane Stephens, the youngest player in the top 50 at age 19, defeated qualifier Tatjana Malek 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in Louis Armstrong stadium Thursday in a three-set match filled with momentum shifts and heavily contrasting styles of play.

After a slow start in the second set, the easy power and athleticism of Stephens dealt with the variety of spins and shots coming off the Malek racquet to advance to the third round, tying her best showing at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center.

Heading into his second round match against Marcel Granollers, James Blake knew it wouldn't be easy going up against the 6-foot-3 Spaniard. He'd lost to him before in the title match on the clay courts of Houston in 2008.

And so it was here, under the lights of Louis Armstrong stadium, where Blake's best tennis came through again, as he defeated Granollers 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the third round here for the first time since 2010. Already waiting for him in the next round is a tall order, literally, as big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic will face off against him.

Serena Williams advanced a few steps in from the baseline and celebrated the point, bent over two balled fists and screaming “Come on!”

During her 6-2, 6-4 win Thursday over Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the second round of the US Open, many members of the crowd echoed this cry, trying to push the three-time Open winner on an afternoon when she fought through unforced errors – 24 in all -- inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In a huge upset, and a major head-scratcher, 23-year-old Martin Klizan of the Slovak Republic, ranked No. 52 in the world, took out the No. 5 seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Tsonga looked out of sorts for most of the match, enough for many to wonder about his health, to try to explain a lackluster performances at such a significant venue.

The big serving Tsonga showed less firepower throughout the match than his unheralded opponent, who has had most of his success on the pro tour on clay court Challenger events.

Klizan, more aggressive and determined throughout, had 5 aces to Tsonga’s 4, and hit 32 winners to Tsonga’s 28.

The second-round blockbuster between sixth seed Angelique Kerber and two-time champion Venus Williams was hyped as one of the matches to watch at the US Open. With a 12:19 a.m. finish on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the matchup lived up to its billing, as Kerber outlasted Williams 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in a gripping battle.

The clash began with five straight breaks of serve, before the left-handed Kerber ended the streak in the sixth game to lead 4-2. Williams was unable to find a rhythm, hitting 36 percent of her first serves into play, committing five double faults and winning two of 14 points on second serve to lose the first set in 31 minutes. The American dropped all four of her service games.

Post match Venus said, "Today I felt American for the first time at the U.S. Open," Venus said. "So I've waited my whole career to have this moment, and here it is.

"I was fighting her today and, unfortunately, myself," Venus said afterward. "I couldn't put more than two points together without making a few errors. I didn't help myself out today."

"When you're ready, you're ready," Venus said of Roddick. "If I was out there and people were killing me, maybe time to hang it up. But I just have to find the answer within myself. I'm playing my game and eventually [the shots] will land."

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France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrates after setting Olympic record.

Fifth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga completed a remarkable second-round victory over Milos Raonic of Canada on Tuesday at the London 2012 Olympics Tennis Event.

Tsonga defeated Raonic 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 in three hours and 57 minutes on Court One. "At the end, I was just very happy for my country," said Tsonga. "I did it for them, and that's it."

It was the longest set (48 games) in Olympics tennis history, beating the previous record (38 games) that took place at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a women’s doubles match, when Canadians Carling Basset-Seguso and Jill Hetherington beating Mercedes Paz and Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina 7-6, 5-7, 20-18. It was also the most games (66) in a best-of-three sets men's or women's match at the Olympics.

Tsonga hit 17 aces and 60 winners, while Raonic hit seven aces and 76 winners. Tsonga converted two of his five break point opportunities, while Raonic could only convert one of eight. Tsonga committed 27 unforced errors to 40 for Raonic.

The match was suspended due to rain at 1:23 p.m. local time, with Tsonga leading 2-1, on serve, in the third set. The encounter resumed at 4:03 p.m. and the deciding set lasted exactly three hours.

“I don’t think I can say too much about it now,” said Raonic. He later joked, “Maybe next time, I will sort of ask my opponent, ‘Do you want to play a long match and let’s take it seriously from 26-26?’”

Raonic saved one match point at 15-16, 30/40. At 20-21, he fell to 0/30 and was forced to save another match point en route to levelling the score. At 23-24, the Canadian dropped to 0/40. He saved one match point with an unreturned serve, but on the next point he was unable to scramble up a Tsonga drop volley.

"I think it is something good," said Tsonga. "To have some good matches like this at the Olympics. It's good for tennis, it's good for sports and I'm just really happy with the way I played today."

In the the third round, Tsonga will play Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who used his greater grass-court experience, to beat ninth-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4 in 71 minutes.

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(L)Venus Williams, USA, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA and (R) Serena Williams, USA all celebrated wins during Sunday and Monday's Olympic Games.

Four-time Olympian Venus Williams walked off Wimbledon's cozy Court 2 gleefully waving her fist as fans chanted, "U-S-A! U-S-A!"

Twenty minutes later, at the other end of the All England Club, Serena Williams departed Court 1 with a triumphant grin and a shout of "Whooo!"

She waited an extra day because of rain to begin her bid for a record fourth gold medal in Olympic tennis, then defeated recent French Open runner-up Sara Errani of Italy, 6-3, 6-1.

French number one, Jo-Wilfried Tonga, took down the Brazilian contender, Thomaz Bellucci, in a three-set match. He notched up a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 victory against the left-handed Brazilian to power into the second round.

Next in line for the French seed is the winner of the match between Japan’s Tatsuma Ito and Canada’s Milos Raonic.

Serena completed a July sweep of Poland's Radwanska sisters by beating Urszula in the second round, 6-2, 6-3. Federer also reached the third round, beating Julien Benneteau of France, 6-2, 6-2.

Venus Williams, also unseeded, drew a tough first-round foe in Errani, who has won four titles this year and is ranked a career-high No. 9. Williams served well, charged the net aggressively and appeared at ease on the Wimbledon grass, where she has won five of her seven Grand Slam titles.

"I've been working really hard on my serve," she said. "I really haven't had my serve where I wanted it this year. But I definitely worked a lot on it, so that way it would be a real weapon for me, which is what I'm used to."

Despite being diagnosed last year with an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue, she began 2012 determined to make the Olympic team. She won the gold in singles at the 2000 Games and teamed with Serena to take the gold in doubles in 2000 and 2008.

Because her opening match was delayed a day by rain, Williams will have to play six consecutive days if she reaches Saturday's final.

"I definitely expect everything to be tough on me almost nowadays," Williams said.

Over on Court 1, Serena's serve lacked its usual sizzle, and she was even broken once, but she still eliminated Radwanska with little drama. She defeated Radwanska's sister, Agnieszka, in the Wimbledon final this month.

Serena will next play Vera Zvonareva of Russia, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010.

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