Steve Johnson lone ex-Trojan remaining in US Open

After beginning last week with six Trojans in New York City for the US Open, the field is now whittled down to one. All four former USC men’s tennis players who entered the qualifying rounds failed to advance to the tournament’s main draw, and Robert Farah withdrew due to injury, leaving Steve Johnson as the only Trojan representative in Flushing Meadows.

Farah, the No. 26 doubles player in the world, will not compete at the US Open this year, as he continues his rehab in hopes of competing for Team Colombia at the Davis Cup in September.

Daniel Nguyen and Roberto Quiroz — who were both with Johnson during the Trojans’ 2012 national title run — fell in the first round of US Open qualifying, but former teammates Ray Sarmiento and Yannick Hanfmann advanced to the second. They needed two more wins to secure a spot in the bracket alongside the world’s best.

Unfortunately for Sarmiento, he was matched up against Grand Slam veteran Tim Smyczek. Smyczek has advanced to the US Open main draw for the last five years, and he knocked out Sarmiento in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, behind six aces and five break-point wins. Sarmiento battled, even breaking Smyczek in one game, but he had four double faults and won only 36 percent of points when his opponent was serving.

After besting Sarmiento, Smyczek played his way into his sixth consecutive main-draw berth with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Peter Polansky.

Hanfmann also fell in his second-round qualifier, though his match against Vaclav Safranek stretched to three sets. Hanfmann actually took the first set 6-2 before his opponent rallied to take the next two 6-4, 7-5, and he was sent packing despite winning 104 total points — Safranek won 99 — and serving up 12 aces to Safranek’s one. Perhaps most tellingly, Safranek took two-thirds of his break points. Though Hanfmann matched his opponent’s tally of six, he failed to capitalize on another nine break-point opportunities.

Safranek also advanced to the main draw, beating Sergiy Stakhovsky in three sets in the third qualifying round.

Johnson, the only Trojan left standing, now looks forward to Monday, when the US Open officially begins. Johnson — ranked No. 46 worldwide in singles — is in both the singles and doubles brackets: He will face world No. 92 Nicolas Almagro on his own before teaming up with Tommy Paul in doubles to take on Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli.

Johnson is scheduled to play his first singles match at 11 a.m. on Monday. The schedule for doubles play was not released as of Sunday afternoon.