US Open Day 4 women’s roundup: Wozniacki knocked out early again, Sharapova, Kerber advance

Lesia Tsurenko beat Caroline Wozniacki at her own game Thursday, shocking the world number two 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the US Open while Maria Sharapova thwarted a second-set comeback bid by Sorana Cirstea, beating the Romanian 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round.

Wozniacki, seeded second and seeking a second Grand Slam title to go with the Australian Open crown she won in January, followed world number one Simona Halep out of the last major of the year, leaving third seeded defending champion Sloane Stephens as the top player remaining in the women’s draw.

“She was playing smarter than me,” Wozniacki said of Tsurenko, the world number 36 who made the fourth round in New York in 2016.

“She played the game that I was supposed to be playing,” Wozniacki added.

“She got a lot of balls back. She played with the angles. She waited for the short ball. When the short ball came, she played aggressive.”

Wozniacki, playing on the Louis Armstrong Stadium newly opened this year, said the court was a bit slower than the Arthur Ashe Stadium court where she beat Samantha Stosur in the first round.

“It’s a beautiful court,” she said of Armstrong, where Halep lost her opener on Monday and two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza exited on Wednesday.

“I guess Wimbledon used to have a graveyard court,” she added of the All England Club’s old Court Two, once known as the Graveyard of Champions.

“Maybe that is going to be the new graveyard court – I think it’s a little too early to tell.”

Tsurenko’s pre-match preparations were hurried thanks to New York traffic that had her arriving late at the National Tennis Center, leaving her little time to check out the new court.

It didn’t show as she executed her planned strategy to perfection.

“That was the game plan, to play consistent, to play patient, to choose the good ball to attack and maybe to go for a volley or just to play a winner,” she said. “It worked today. I was really brave I think today.”

The only possible concern for Tsurenko is a sore forearm that troubled her on her serve, something she’ll seek treatment for before a third-round meeting with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.

Siniakova saved a match point on the way to a 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4) victory over Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.

Despite another Grand Slam disappointment – on the heels of a second-round exit at Wimbledon, Wozniacki said her Australian Open triumph makes 2018 a successful season no matter what else it has in store for her.

“I’m always going to say it’s a great season because I won my first major,” said the Dane.

“I’ve won so many tournaments throughout my career, but I’d never won a Grand Slam. I think regardless what happens for the last few tournaments of the year, it’s still going to be a great year because I won in Australia. It’s something that nobody can ever take away from me.”

Sharapova closes out Cirstea

Sharapova, the 2006 champion at Flushing Meadows, coughed up 10 double faults as she got off to a slow start on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

But she improved to 21-0 in night matches at the tournament – recovering from a break down in the second set to finish it off in straight sets after the clock had ticked past midnight.

“You’ve got to be crazy to be here after midnight,” she said, giving the fans who stayed a nod of appreciation.

Sharapova could have worked even later, but with Cirstea two points from forcing a third set Sharapova clawed back a break, and broke again in the final game to seal the win.

“There’s a saying we use a lot: It’s not how you start it’s how you finish,” she said.

The five-time Grand Slam winner booked a meeting with former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over American Taylor Townsend.

“It only gets tougher from here,” said Sharapova, the 22nd seed.

“Being seeded in the 20s you know you’re going to get tough draws. You know you’re going to play Grand Slam champions.

“She’s a competitor, a great opponent. I look forward to it.”

Kerber outlasts Larsson

Wimbledon women’s champion Angelique Kerber kept her bid for a second US Open title on track, outlasting Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

“I think we both really played on a really high level from the first point,” said 2016 champion Kerber who had led by a set and 5-2 at one stage.

Kerber will next take on 2010 quarter-finalist Dominika Cibulkova after the Slovakian beat Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4 despite being docked two points for returning late from a heat break.

The Slovakian blasted US Open officials after she was docked two points for returning late from a 10-minute heat break before the third set of her 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4 victory over the Taiwanese player.

“She told me I was one minute late. I’m getting two points’ penalty. You cannot be serious,” Cibulkova said.

She noted that unlike players on the massive Ashe and Armstrong stadium courts, those toiling on more distant courts must trek through the crowds to reach air conditioned sanctuary for the breaks.

The 10 minute breaks are alotted in men’s and women’s matches that go beyond straight sets under the tournament’s extreme heat policy that was in force Thursday for a third straight day.

“It took me, I think, more than three minutes walking through the people, because there were so many fans and so many people,” said Cibulkova, who played on court 17 – the fourth show court.

She had no time for the cold shower or ice bath that other players have used to cool down. After changing her clothes and making her way back to the court to start the third set, Cibulkova was stunned to be told by the umpire “it’s going to be Love-30”.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Is it my fault it takes so long to get from where you send me to go to change to the court? I think it’s just not right.”

At Wimbledon, Cibulkova lambasted officials over a controversial line call in her 6-4, 6-1 fourth-round rout of Hsieh.

Cibulkova called it “ridiculous” that the Hsieh successfully persuaded the umpire to replay a point that was initially called in the Slovakian’s favor and would have given her three set points in the opening set.

That dispute saw the match bogged down more than seven minutes, with a supervisor called to the court to weigh in.

On Thursday, Cibulkova soldiered on to finish out what she called “one of the top three toughest matches in my career”.

“With the conditions and the way we played – I think the level of tennis we played was really high – it gives you a lot of confidence because you didn’t give up,” said Cibulkova, who booked a meeting with Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber for a fourth round berth.

Belarus 26th seed Aryna Sabalenka continued her red-hot summer by seeing off 2010 runner-up Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-6 (9/7).

Sabalenka, who won the New Haven tournament last week and reached the semi-finals in Cincinnati, has made the third round of a Slam for the first time.