Two title contenders at the upcoming US Open have suffered a blow in their preparations after sustaining shock losses in the Western and Southern Open on Sunday.
Top seed Karolina Pliskova failed to capitalise on a strong start to her match against Russian world No.41 Veronika Kudermetova as she was knocked out 7-5, 6-4. The Czech raced to a 4-1 lead initially before later in the set losing her serve twice to give the opener to her opponent. In the second set eight straight games went with serve until Pliskova was broken once again at 4-4. Enabling Kudermetova to serve the match out and claim only her third win over a top 10 player in her career.
“She played a couple matches already, a couple tournaments,” Pliskova said of the Russian. “I think she played something before in Europe, I think Prague or something.
“I thought I started quite well, actually. She was missing a lot. I think she improved during the match, during the first set, and I was just a couple points here and there.
“I think the first set I should serve much better. I thought actually I had a lot of mistakes on the return. Of course she played well. I thought she just was going for it.
“She won quite a tough match in the first round, so I think definitely she had nothing to lose today. She was playing free. She was playing quite good tennis. But it was not that I could not win this match.”
Sunday’s match was Pliskova’s first on the WTA Tour since the Qatar Open back in February. Although her opponent had previously played in the Prague Open earlier this month, she lost in the first round. The Czech admitted that she needs more time to get used to the court speed at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in New York.
“I don’t know what’s the reason to make it this fast, but, yeah, there is plenty of time to get used to it, but apparently one week was not enough for me,” said Pliskova.
It is the first time Pliskova has lost her opening match at a WTA Tournament since the Beijing Open last autumn. Kudermetova will take on either Kristina Mladenovic or Elise Mertens in the third round.
Frustrated Kenin bows out
Another high-profile casualty was Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin who fell 6-1, 7-6(7) to France’s Alize Cornet. The 21-year-old struggled behind her serve throughout the match as she was broken five times in total. Sher was particularly fragile behind her second serve where she won only five out of 20 points.
“It wasn’t easy,” Kenin said in her press conference. “Obviously it didn’t feel like I had any rhythm. I don’t know why I let that happen. I felt like I was playing well.
“Of course she was playing well, so I’m not taking any creds from her. I literally couldn’t feel the ball, like literally two sets. I don’t even know how I came back, to be honest. I just really didn’t feel my game at all.”
There were some positives to the American’s latest encounter on the Tour. She looked to be on the verge of a heavy defeat whilst trailing 1-6, 2-5, but she battled back to draw level in the second set. Then in the tiebreaker she had a duo of set points to force the match into a decider but failed to capitalise on her opportunities.
“Preparation-wise, I was playing well. I had a great practice four or five days, and then today just it completely fell apart,” said Kenin, who produced 53 unforced errors.
Cornet will play either former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka or Caroline Garcia next.
Following the duo of losses, 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams is the highest seeded player left in the draw. She will get her campaign underway on Monday against the Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus.
