Error-filled display knocks out Raonic
NEW YORK — Milos Raonic’s face was red, his body the very picture of weariness. His left wrist was bothering him. So was his left thigh.
A Wimbledon finalist just last month and seeded No. 5 at the U.S. Open, Raonic double-faulted 15 times and was stunned Wednesday in the second round at Flushing Meadows, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 by Ryan Harrison, a qualifier from the United States ranked only 120th.
Until Monday, Harrison, 24, hadn’t won a single main-draw match at any major since the 2013 French Open. Last week, he and his younger sibling, Christian, became the first pair of brothers to both qualify for the U.S. Open.
“I’m excited to keep moving forward,” Harrison said during an on-court interview at the new Grandstand stadium.
While he was helped by his opponent’s myriad problems — Raonic received repeated visits from a trainer — Harrison played cleanly after recovering from a double-fault that ceded the opening set.
He wound up with 33 unforced errors, making just one in the final set of the 31⁄ -hour match. Raonic’s total was 62, including 21 in the third set alone.
“I was my own worst enemy today,” Raonic said. “I tried the best I could to find my way out of it. My body didn’t let me.”
In other action, No. 3 Garbine Muguruza, the French Open champion, made 38 unforced errors and bowed out 7-5, 6-4 against Anastasija Sevastova. All four of Muguruza’s U.S. Open appearances have ended in the first or second round.
No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion, took the first four games before losing 6-4, 6-4 to Caroline Wozniacki, who is unseeded but is a two-time U.S. Open runner-up. Wozniacki beat a top-10 opponent for the first time in nearly a year.
Defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic reached the third round when his opponent, 49thranked Jiri Vesely, withdrew a couple of hours before their match, citing inflammation in his left forearm.