No. 3 Sakkari out as another top player falls at US Open

NEW YORK (AP):

THE LAST two women’s champions were already out of the US Open and now one of last year’s semi-finalists is gone.

Top players are falling fast in Flushing Meadows, and Serena Williams was trying to topple another last night.

Hours before Williams faced No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit, third-seeded Maria Sakkari was ousted - 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 - by Wang Xiyu of China in the second round.

Sakkari reached two Grand Slam semi-finals last year but has had a difficult time backing up her success in 2022, acknowledging this week that she struggled to handle a higher profile that came with her rise to No. 3 in the rankings. She said some days she didn’t enjoy tennis and didn’t even want to get out of bed.

The Greek said she was happier coming into this tournament, but her game just wasn’t quite good enough against the 75th-ranked Wang, who advanced past the second round of a major for the first time.

“It’s disappointing, it hurts, because I was feeling better, I was enjoying myself, feeling good on the court, and it was just very disappointing that my level was that low today,” Sakkari said.

No. 12 Coco Gauff and 20th-seeded Madison Keys avoided the trouble, setting up a third-round matchup between the Americans. Gauff beat Elena Gabriela Ruse 6-2, 7-6 (4), while 2017 US Open runner-up Keys outlasted Camili Giorgi 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (6).

Gauff was two points from dropping the second set at 5-3 before the 18-year old rallied, something she said demonstrates an aspect of her game that wasn’t there early in the season but could make the French Open finalist a threat now.

GROWTH

“Today down love-30, 5-3, definitely could have threw it in the can and got ready for the third set. Same at 15-40. But I didn’t,” Gauff said. “I feel like that shows growth. I feel like in the past, those are games I would have lost. Yeah, it’s about learning, and I think I’m learning.”

Sakkari’s loss came after defending champion Emma Raducanu and two-time winner Naomi Osaka were eliminated Tuesday night in the first round. That left Bianca Andreescu, who beat Williams in the 2019 final, as the most recent US Open women’s champion still in the field.

Andreescu was set to face No. 15 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia last night.

Coming off her run to the Wimbledon finals, No. 5 Ons Jabeur matched her best US Open result with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Elizabeth Mandlik, the daughter of 1985 champion Hana Mandlikova. Jabeur lost in the third round in each of her last three trips to New York.

She will play American Shelby Rogers, the No. 31 seed who beat Viktoria Kuzmova 7-5, 6-1.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray rebounded quickly after dropping the first set to power past American Emilio Nava 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 and set up a third-round meeting with No. 13 seed Matteo Berrettini.