(August 28, 2024) FLUSHING, NY – Wimbledon champion and eighth seed Barbora Krejcikova was upset on Wednesday, losing to qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 7-5.
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka made quick work of Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 6-1 to reach the round of 32.
“I’m super happy with the level today,” she said. “She’s really tough opponent. Even though the score doesn’t look like that, but it wasn’t easy playing against her. Just super happy to win this match in two sets.”
Former finalist Madison Keys was dominant in her second round performance with a 6-4, 6-0 win over 18-year-old Maya Joint of Australia who was making both her first tour-level turnament debut and main draw major tournament debut.
Keys, a 2017 US Open finalist will face a test in the third round as she goes up against 33rd seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, a 6-3, 6-2. Keys leads their head-to-head 3-1.
No. 7 and Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng needed to comeback against Erika Andreeva 6-7, 6-1, 6-2.
“Maybe I just think I should start the match better than what I did these two rounds,” Zheng said in her news conferenc, “because yeah, it seems like I played better the second set and the third set.
“And also, in first set, the tiebreak, actually I thought the score was 5-5. And then I’m surprised it was tiebreak, so my mental during the tiebreak was little bit, yeah, maybe that was too hot today, can be, I don’t know.”
No. 4 seed and 2020 finalist Alexander Zverev moved into the third round with a win over Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-5, 7-6, 6-1. Zverev has an ATP leading number of match wins at 54 this year.
Frances Tiafoe, the 20th seed advanced when his opponent, Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan, retired with the American up 6-4, 6-1, 1-0.
“I was really pleased with the way I played,” Tiafoe said. “I thought the first set could have been similar to the second. I had a lot of chances there. Started serving pretty well there at the end of the first and all the way through to the second. Returned really well today.
“I can’t complain, you know, first match on Ashe. How warm it was today, obviously, you know, I’m a competitor and never want to win on retirement but I’ll take that. Happy with the way I played and continue to build on that.”
Tiafoe will be facing friend Ben Shelton in the next round. The No. 13 seed defeated veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
“I’m excited,” Shelton said of the match-up. “These are the type of matches that I love, that I live for. Being able to do it a little bit earlier in this draw, it still feels the same. Still feels like a huge match and one that I’m really excited for.
“I know that the people love him here. Probably more than me. He’s electric here, and his crowds are electric here. I was watching his match on Louis the other night, and it was pretty cool to watch.
“We’re good friends. It will be a battle. It will be a war just like the last two times we’ve played. Yeah, I’m more than excited to be out there with him again.”
“A lot of good thoughts about today’s match,” Shelton said to media. “I’m happy with the way that I handled some difficult-ish situations today.
“I didn’t feel like I came out playing my best tennis. I don’t feel like I had a great rhythm at the start of the match. Grandstand is a fast court this year, faster than the other two stadiums, and slightly slanted sideways as well. So it’s a bit of a different feeling playing on that court.
“But I thought I competed well in the big moments today, came up with the goods on return of serve and forehands when I really needed them. I was happy with how things turned out.”
In an almost four-hour match, No. 32 Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic came back from two sets down and 0-3 to beat American qualifier Mitchell Krueger.
More to follow…
