Although she is the bigger name, No. 19 Venus Williams was not even the higher seed in her own match -- that would be No. 13 Sara Errani, who beat Venus in three sets 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (5). Venus was not even the highest seed to lose on Friday in the Women's draw of the 2014 U.S. Open.
That honor belonged to Simona Halep, whose solid performances in 2014's previous Grand Slams had lead her to the two-seed in Flushing and some speculation that she may be the favorite to win the entire tournament. Instead, she finds herself out of contention less than a full week into the tournament following a 7-6 (6), 6-2 straight set loss to 121-ranked qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Also upset was No. 6 Angelique Kerber, as Belinda Bencic defeated her, 6-1, 7-5. The rest of the seeded women fared well: No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki won, 6-3, 6-2 against No. 18 Andrea Petkovic, 14-seed Lucie Safarova defeated No. 22 Alize Cornet, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4. The rest of the updated women's bracket can be seen here.
In the men's draw, No. 11 Ernests Gulbis was upended by practice partner Dominic Thiem, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, for the major upset of the day on that side of the bracket . In addition to Gulbis, No. 15 Fabio Fognini, No. 25 Ivo Karlovic and 32-seed Joao Sousa were all pushed out by unseeded challengers on the men's side.
The top players, such as No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov, lived up to their rankings. Federer defeated Sam Groth, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, and Dimitrov ran over Dudi Sela, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. Along with Federer and Dimitrov, No. 12 Richard Gasquet and No. 14 Marin Cilic both also advanced.
Joining them in the next round will be No. 6 Tomas Berdych, who had a bumpier ride than that of his counterparts, going the distance with Martin Klizan, 6-2, 4-6 ,6-3, 3-6, 6-2. You can see the updated men's bracket on the US Open website.
To purchase tickets to the event, check out U.S. Open Ticket Exchange