US Open: The Upbeat Upsets so far…

We are into the fourth round of the last slam this year and things are going well for the most venerated adversaries (in men) of the tournament : Roger Federer,
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murrray. But some of the top seeded contenders of the title have already been knocked out before even breaching into the top 16’s precisely in the women’s tennis The first upset, well not exactly an upset but a stunner came from the 15 year old Catherine Bellis where she ousts 12th seeded Dominika Cibulkova, a flash player in tennis with neat strokes who went into the finals of the AO this year. But she was soon knocked out in round 2 by Zarina Diyas, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 in a match that lasted nearly two hours. Then the glamour girl and 8-seed Ivanovic suffered a bad day with 29 unforced errors and as a result fell to Pliskova in two sets , 5-7, 4-6. Her drubbed run continued all year long in the slams with quarterfinal at the Australian Open and third round at the French Open and Wimbledon After the match she said “I really struggled to find my rhythm and made way too many unforced errors “.

In men, Dominic Thiem staged an upset in the US Open third round, taking down 19th seed Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday. “It’s my first ever US Open,” said Thiem. “It’s a special tournament, all the night matches, and I’m very happy to reach the Round of 16 here for the first time. “I think the best thing was my return,” Thiem added. “It worked very well. Lopez played serve-and-volley most of the time.”

A shock took the crowd who gathered to see the world no. 2 Simona Halep play, when Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a 32 year woman in tennis hit an ace past Simona to win the match. In recent years, Mirjana had achieved nothing and her tennis was left to deal with obscurity but reaching the 4th round of US open meant more momentous to her than any other. “After so many years,” Lucic-Baroni said moments after her 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory in the third round of the United States Open. “My God, this is just so incredible.”

Then came a bona fide upset : That was Sara Errani’s 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (5) victory over Venus Williams in a riveting and absurd match that kept the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium enthralled for two hours. The first set was a disaster for Venus as she committed 18 unforced errors, three double faults and a 30 percent success rate on her first serves. It was over in 26 minutes. The 13th seeded Errani had never beaten Venus but its tennis and that too WTA, so you never know how things change in here.

The other upset was fashioned by the 17-year-old Belinda Bencic, who in her first Open wreak havoc on the No. 6 seed, Angelique Kerber, 6-1, 7-5. Playing with all the mettle her age could offer, Bencic got an early lead and did not stumble,  even after going down an early break in the second set. Then the catastrophe struck the beauty queen Maria Sharapova, when she couldn’t keep up in the third set of the fourth round on a baked sunday afternoon where she was dismantled by Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in 2 hours, 37 minutes to get back to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in more than two years.

The match was upsetting only for Maria’s fan because in tennis terms it was a tough one to pull off for both the players  but Caroline graced the match.
When you have two highly qualified female players on court, you are in for some drama and arguments Because of the heat, the players received a 10-minute break before the final set; Sharapova returned to the court late, arguing with the chair umpire after receiving a time violation warning. Wozniacki later complained that Sharapova was wasting time and sauntered between points. ”She’s very good at getting a lot of balls back and making you hit another one,” Sharapova said. “In the end, I went for a little too much.”

Ninth-seeded Jelena Jankovic was also upset in the fourth round, losing 7-6 (6), 6-3 to 17-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic (the same kid who thrashed No.6 seed Kerber). As in motion, Bencic became the youngest U.S. Open quarterfinal since Hingis herself in 1997. Unlike women, men faced the first top 10 defeat in the form of the No. 4 seed David Ferrer who lost to Gilles Simon The men’s tournament, had proceeded with hardly a blip. More surprising, it had not rained. The   Sunday ended first with the loss of fourth-seeded David Ferrer to Gilles Simon, then with a thunderstorm that brought the tournament to a halt late in the afternoon. “It was not easy for me,” he said after his 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 loss. “I was not good with my fitness.”Ferrer, considered one of the most fittest players on the tour, said he struggled with the unpleasant weather. On the other hand, Simon, the No. 26 seed, said: “It was really, really difficult to play today. I feel it was one of the hardest days for me on the court because it was hot and it was so humid.”

As the quarterfinals starts, the favored men enter with all pride with Djoker who has dropped only 7 games till now to reach there and be the most strong contender backed up by the Maestro himself. In women’s side only one player in the top 6 rankings prevails, Serena Williams who looks in sanguine form and is the top seeded women in the slam along with Genie Bouchard and two players ranked in between 120 and 130. Where as in men we have all the top rankers leaving the 3rd and 4th seeded Nadal and Ferrer respectively. The next US week is gonna be one to watch with so many shocking results in the past week, and the upcoming great matches between the great players.

Its time to turn on the tennis geek in you and gear up for the business end of the tournament.

Because we all know, its a funny game and upsets are the name of the game in the present era.