But Verdugo was advised by his partner in recent days to stay ready. Siljestrom had been studying the field and realized that, thanks to a favorably short list of alternate teams, they had a decent chance to sneak into the draw given the spate of injury retirements.

So Verdugo booked a $312 flight from Dallas into New York on Tuesday night and found a friend to stay with on the Upper East Side to avoid housing costs. His coach, Philip Farmer, was already in town and touring the 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Thursday afternoon when Verdugo sent a text at 2:30 p.m. to inform him: “We’re in.”

Pospisil had withdrawn because of a back injury that plagued him in his loss to Rafael Nadal in singles on Wednesday.

“At first it was kind of emotional when I walked on the court,” Verdugo said of arriving on Court 7. “But I kind of soaked it in and just said, ‘Let’s go for it.’

“My partner really believed we were going to get in, so I told him, ‘Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.’ I knew that maybe I could lose $500 or a thousand bucks, but I also knew that the rewards could be much bigger.” MARC STEIN

Young Australian advances

In a battle of bright young stars, Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated Frances Tiafoe of the United States, 6-4, 6-0. 5-7, 6-2. De Minaur, 19, was the No. 2 ranked junior in the world in 2016. Tiafoe, 20, reached that spot in 2014.