Scream queen exits Open
Stephens, Williams keep US flag flying as they advance into the quarter-finals
Maybe this was just one three-setter too many for Maria Sharapova. Sharapova tried a bit of everything, even resorting to switching over her racket to hit a few lefty shots. Still, the five-time major champion could not quite keep her Grand Slam comeback from a doping suspension going, losing in the fourth round of the US Open to 16th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 5-7 6-4 6-2 yesterday.
“Look, three-set matches are challenging. I love being part of them.
“There’s an element of concentration, focus, physicality that goes into all of it. Yeah, you just have to get through it,” Sharapova said. “There’s no doubt that not playing those matches certainly cost me today. I did feel like I was thinking a little bit too much and not playing by instinct.”
This was the third time in her four matches that Sharapova went the distance and she faded down the stretch, while also dealing with a blister on her right hand that was treated and taped by a trainer in the final set.
Sharapova’s miscues kept closing exchanges, and she dropped 13 of the first 14 points in that set.
The 30-year-old Russian finished with 51 unforced errors, compared to 14 for Sevastova.
“It’s been a really great Sharapova said.
Sharapova’s exit leaves Venus Williams as the only past US Open champion in the women’s field. The 37-year-old Williams, who won the title in 2000 and 2001, got to the quarter-finals by beating Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 3-6 6-1.
Next for Williams will be a showdown against No. 13 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon winner, who eliminated reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (3) 6-3.
This is the most significant victory for Kvitova since she returned to action after needing surgery on her racket-holding hand for cuts from a knife-wielding intruder at her home in the Czech Republic in December.
“I came here without any ride,” expectations,” Kvitova said.
Sevastova will face unseeded American Sloane Stephens, who reached her first quarter-final in New York by eliminating No. 30 Julia Goerges 6-3 3-6 6-1.
Stephens has won 12 of her past 14 matches, a remarkable run for someone who was off the tour for 11 months because of foot surgery in January.
Sharapova hadn’t played in a major tournament since the Australian Open in January 2016, when she tested positive for the newly banned drug meldonium.
She served a 15-month ban for that, returning to the tour this April with a ranking too low to get into Grand Slam events.
Sevastova made Sharapova run a lot by pulling her forward with drop shots or tight angles, then would often deposit follow-up strokes into open spaces. On one point won by Sharapova in the second set, she twice tracked down lobs that she got back over the net by hitting the ball left-handed.
But Sevastova reached the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.
Canadian 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov’s entertaining stay ended with a 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4) 7-6 (3) loss to 12th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.
In the quarters, Carreno Busta will play No. 29 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, while No. 17 Sam Querrey of the United States takes on No. 28 Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Querrey gave the host nation its first male quarter-finalist in New York since 2011 by compiling 55 winners and only eight unforced errors while easily beating No. 23 Mischa Zverev 6-2 6-2 6-1.
New Zealand’s hopes of a men’s doubles winner at the US Open have ended after Marcus Daniell was eliminated in the second round.
Daniell and Brazilian partner Marcel Demoliner went down 7-6 6-3 to the fourth-seeded combination of Jamie Murray (Great Britain) and Bruno Soares (Brazil).
Michael Venus is still alive in the mixed doubles, having reached the third round with Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei. MOTOR SPORT TENNIS