OH! KAROLINA
Garcia shocks top seed Pliskova at US Open
New York, Sept. 3: France’s Caroline Garcia produced the biggest upset of the US Open on Wednesday, sending top seed Karolina Pliskova tumbling out of the tournament.
Garcia, the world number 50, scored one of the biggest wins of her career with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/2) secondround victory at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The 26-year-old’s 1hr 33min victory sends her into a third round meeting on Friday with American 28th seed Jennifer Brady.
If she can reproduce Wednesday’s polished performance, Garcia will fancy her chances of extending her run at Flushing Meadows.
Garcia — whose talent propelled her to fourth in the world rankings in September 2018 before a protracted slump sent her sliding down the standings in 2019 — attacked Pliskova from the outset.
Garcia raced into a 5-0 lead after scoring two early service breaks before taking the first set.
Although Pliskova improved in the second, she was unable to find the crucial service break when it mattered, and was unable to convert a set point in the second to level the match.
In the tie break, Garcia raced into a 6-2 lead and then completed victory when Pliskova hit a return into the net.
It was a disappointing exit for Pliskova, who had been elevated to No.1 seed after a slew of high-ranking player withdrawals due to the coronavirus.
While Pliskova fell by the wayside, there were no such problems for fourth seed Naomi Osaka of Japan, the 2018 champion.
The 22-year-old dominated hard-hitting Italian opponent Camila Giorgi in a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Petra Kvitova advanced to the third round with a straight sets defeat of Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine, winning 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.
Kvitova, chasing a third Grand Slam crown after wins at Wimbledon in 2011
and 2014, needed 1hr
40min to claim her place in the last 32.
Gracheva, ranked 102nd in the world, upset France’s 30th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 1-6,
7-6 (7/2), 6-0. Mladenovic suffered a meltdown for the ages as she slid to defeat, collapsing from a 6-1, 5-1 lead and blowing four match points along the way.
Another seed to tumble was the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova. The out-of-sorts 12th seed was beaten 6-1, 6-2 in little more than an hour by Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the 2016 US Open champion, booked her place in the third round with a straight sets win over compatriot AnnaLena Friedsam.
The 17th seed progressed with a 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory in 1hr 40min, and will now face Ann Li, who knocked out 13th seed Alison Riske 6-0, 6-3.
SHARAN-CACIC BOW OUT IN OPENING ROUND
India’s Divij Sharan and his Serbian partner Nikola Cacic fought hard before going down in three sets to eighth seeds Nikola Mektic and Wesley Koolhof in the first round of the US Open men’s doubles event here.
Sharan and Cacic lost 4-6 6-3 3-6 against Croatia’s Mektic and Koolhof of the Netherlands in a tough contest that lasted one hour and 46 minutes on Wednesday. The winners will next play Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez. —