Top-seeded Pliskova ousted at U.S. Open
NEW YORK >> Under normal circumstances, Karolina Pliskova would not have been seeded No. 1 at the U.S. Open and so, while a second-round loss certainly would have been disappointing to her, and noticed by others, it wouldn’t have been as newsworthy.
But what’s normal in 2020? With the women who are 1-2 in the rankings choosing to skip the trip to Flushing Meadows because of the pandemic, No. 3 Pliskova ascended to the top spot in the draw — and by Day 3, she was gone.
Pliskova, the 2016 runner-up at the U.S. Open, made her mood clear during a 6-1, 7-6 (2) loss to 50th-ranked Caroline Garcia on Tuesday by breaking a racket, then again afterward with a series of clipped responses at her news conference.
Pliskova fidgeted with the microphone. Sighed. Rolled her eyes.
When a reporter offered possible explanations for the defeat — a new faster surface on the courts, a lack of atmosphere because there are no spectators, the pressure of her high seeding — Pliskova replied: “Nothing from what you said.”
Her reasoning for the result? “I didn’t play good,” Pliksova said, “so that’s it.”
When another member of the media said this backand-forth must be boring to Pliskova, she said, “Yeah, a little bit. Did you see the match or no?” and soon after remarked, “I don’t know if you understand tennis well enough.”
After a first round that went more to form than ever — 29 of 32 seeded women won their opening matches, a U.S. Open record since the number of seeds was doubled from 16 in 2001 — the surprises started in the second round.
Shelby Rogers, an American ranked 93rd, beat 11thseeded Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-1, and Ann Li, who is ranked 128th, beat 13thseeded Alison Riske 6-0, 6-3. Other seeded women who were eliminated: No. 12 Marketa Vondrousova, No. 30 Kristina Mladenovic, No. 31 Anastasija Sevastova.
Pliskova had chances to take the second set against Garcia, who had been 0-8 against top-five opponents at Grand Slam tournaments, but failed to do so.
Couldn’t really come up with how to describe why this happenened, either.
“That’s how it is sometimes,” Pliskova said. “I am not a robot, so I don’t have to play every day amazing.”
• Naomi Osaka, the 2018 champion, defeated Camila Giorgi 6-1, 6-2. Then came a congratulatory conversation by remote with her mother, who was shown on a courtside video screen.
“Hi! What are you doing?” Osaka said. The audio connection wasn’t great, but Mom clapped.
Her mom, who is Japanese, also held up a sheet of images, which Osaka later deciphered.
“She’s saying, the first one is, ‘Good job,’ and then the second one is, ‘Don’t do Instagram and Twitter and instead go to sleep,’” Osaka said. “And then the third one is, ‘Drink green juice and get some rest,’ and then the fourth one is, ‘I love you.’”
• The No. 1 man, Novak Djokovic, fell behind when he lost a tiebreaker for the first time this year but has rallied past Kyle Edmund in the second round of the U.S. Open. Djokovic won 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
“I’m actually glad I did drop a set and got tested the way I did today against Kyle. I expected it to be a tough, tough task,” said Djokovic, who has won five of the past seven Grand Slam tournaments to raise his major trophy total to 17, three behind Roger Federer and two behind Rafael Nadal.
“I’m really glad having an early kind of tough match in the tournament,” Djokovic said, because it kind of serves me better, I think, for the rest of the tournament.”
Next up for him is No. 28 Jan-Lennard Struff, someone Djokovic beat 6-3, 6-1 at the Western & Southern Open.
• Mladenovic served for the victory while leading 6-1, 5-1 against Varvara Gracheva in the second round, and not only couldn’t close the deal there or when she held four match points soon thereafter, but also somehow, some way, she lost the match.
Eventually, Gracheva — a 20-year-old Russian who is ranked 102nd — came all the way back to win 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0.
“Definitely,” Mladenovic said, “the most painful match and loss I’ve had in my career.”
Gracheva will move on to meet No. 8 seed Petra Martic.
“She was brave and she went for it,” Mladenovic said about her opponent, who is participating in her first Grand Slam tournament.
• Serena Williams plays her second-round match today. Williams is 4-2 since tennis resumed after time off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first five of those matches went three sets as she struggled to find consistency.
But her first-round win in New York came in straight sets. She’ll get a chance to build momentum when she faces Margarita Gasparyan.
• Atherton’s CiCi Bellis was knocked out in the second round by fellow American Jennifer Brady, the 28th seeded player. Brady won 6-1, 6-2.