TENNIS US OPEN – Unlike on Day 5 when several big names tumbled out of the draw, things were relatively calmer in the women’s draw. Flavia Pennetta played first up on the Arthur Ashe stadium and she was the first woman into the Round of 16 when she knocked out American Nicole Gibbs for the 2nd straight year 6-4 6-0. The real big upset of the day also happened early when reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova (3) got dismissed by Aleksandra Krunic. From New York, Cordell Hackshaw
US Open: All the interviews, results, draws and OoP
Unlike on Day 5 when several big names tumbled out of the draw, things were relatively calmer in the women’s draw. Flavia Pennetta played first up on the Arthur Ashe stadium and she was the first woman into the Round of 16 when she knocked out American Nicole Gibbs for the 2nd straight year 6-4 6-0. The real big upset of the day also happened early when reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova (3) got dismissed by Aleksandra Krunic 6-4 6-4. Kvitova has always struggled in the heat and humidity during the North American hardcourt swing and it clearly showed in her play.
In other matches, Serena Williams (1) has finally made it past the 3rd round of major since the Australian Open this year. Williams took on yet another American, her third successive in this tournament, Varvara Lepchenko. Again Williams made winning easy look very difficult. She seemed rather bothered through much of the match as she won 6-3 6-3 in just over an hour and a half. Lepchenko played very well within herself but in the big moments, she could not capitalize. Williams was very gracious to her opponent as they practice and hit together often, “[S]he gives 100% on the court. She always tries to do the best … She is an incredible fighter.”
Two-time finalist here, Victoria Azarenka (16) is seemingly getting better and better with each round. She dismantled Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-1 in 57 minutes. This victory marked Azarenka’s 100th major win in her career. She will play Krunic in the Round of 16. Azarenka said, “I don’t know about her much … [S]he obviously is playing great tennis and really inspired here, you know, so many matches in a row and upsetting such a great player.” Nonetheless, it might be that Azarenka is extremely grateful for Krunic’s upset win over Kvitova as she has never beaten the Czech in any of their encounters.
The other top named player who made it through to the 4th round was Eugenie Bouchard (7) who is continuing to show that when it comes to the major stage, she is ready, present and willing to play. She took on Czech Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova. Zahlavova-Strycova is no stranger to playing big names as she had a wonderful Wimbledon this year making it to the quarterfinals for the first time in 33 appearances at a major. However, Bouchard has had an even better year at the majors and her experience showed through on the big points. Bouchard took the 1st set 6-2 but went down 3-5 in the 2nd set. Zhalavova was getting more aggressive on court and benefitting from the random errors from Bouchard. However, Bouchard fought her way back into the set to lead 6-5 but Zahlavova was able to hold serve to force a tiebreaker where she was able to level the match.
In the decisive set, there was definitely shifting momentums after the 6th game; 3 games all. There were 3 consecutive breaks of serve which saw Bouchard serving for the match up 5-4. The Canadian was able to serve it out for the win 6-2 6-7 6-4. “I was disappointed in myself, not necessarily about going to a third, but by my level in the second set. I was surprised I could do so many unforced errors in one set. You know, that’s something I definitely don’t want to repeat again. But I’m determined to do better in my next match,” Bouchard said after the match.
Bouchard’s next round opponent will be Ekaterina Makarova (17) who go to the Round of 16 when she took out Zarina Diyas 6-2 6-4. Other winner on the day was Kaia Kanepi who is continuing to have a wonderful tournament after she knocked out Sam Stosur (24) in the 1st round. Kanepi again upset another seeded player, this time Carla Suarez-Navarro (15) in straight sets knocked out another seeded player Carla Suarez Navarro (15) 7-5 6-0. She will have to maintain this winning form as she faces Williams in the next round. Casey Dellacqua (29) also finds herself in the Round of 16 after she knocked out Karolina Pliskova 6-3 3-6 6-4. It was a hard fought contest all the way to the end. Dellacqua will play Pennetta for a spot in the quarterfinals.
