Caroline Wozniacki’s alarming slump continues in surprise US Open defeat by Lesia Tsurenko as seeds continue to fall

Top seed Simona Halep also crashed out on a tumultuous day at Flushing Meadows

Paul Newman
New York
Friday 31 August 2018 07:22 BST
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Which current players have won the US Open?

The scattering of seeds has not quite reached Wimbledon proportions but Caroline Wozniacki became the latest big name to go out of the US Open here on Thursday night. Wozniacki, the No 2 seed, went the way of Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza when she was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Lesia Tsurenko.

Not much has gone right for Wozniacki since she won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January. She has since made early exits from all three subsequent Grand Slam tournaments and played particularly poorly here.

At Wimbledon this summer not one of the top 10 seeds made it through to the second week. Three have gone out here before the third round, with Wozniacki following Halep, the No 1 seed, who lost to Kaia Kanepi, and Julia Goerges, the No 9 seed, who went down to Ekaterina Makarova.

Muguruza, the No 12 seed, also made an early departure, losing to Karolina Muchova, a Czech qualifier ranked No 202 in the world. In total 12 of the 32 seeds have not taken up their expected places in the third round. Sloane Stephens, the No 3 seed and defending champion, is the highest seed left in the draw.

Since winning the Eastbourne title in June Wozniacki has won only two matches. The world No 2 beat Varvara Lepchenko at Wimbledon before losing to Makarova, lost her opening matches in Montreal and Cincinnati to Aryna Sabalenka and Kiki Bertens respectively, and won only one round here, beating Sam Stosur in her opening match.

Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out of the US Open by Lesia Tsurenko

Tsurenko, a 29-year-old Ukrainian who has never reached a Grand Slam quarter-final, made a slow start in the Louis Armstrong Stadium, losing the first two games, but soon took charge. The world No 36 made regular inroads into Wozniacki’s service games and took charge of the match despite a problem with her right arm.

Having taken a medical time-out in the opening set, Tsurenko continued to have her arm massaged in the second set, but had little trouble closing out one of the biggest wins of her career.

Wozniacki has won just two matches since winning the Australian Open

Wozniacki has played in two finals here, but this was the second year in a row in which she has gone out in the second round. She was particularly disappointed as she felt she had been playing her way into form.

“I felt like I'd been practising really well, playing really well for the week leading up to the tournament, but it obviously wasn’t an ideal preparation,” the 28-year-old Dane said after her defeat.

“I usually play more matches and just get into the rhythm. But I felt like I did everything right under the circumstances. She played really well. I was trying to find everything that I could today, but it just wasn't going that way.”

She added: “I think I played well in parts of the first set, just trying to stay aggressive, but she was playing smarter than me.

Lesia Tsurenko progressed to the third round at the expense of Wozniacki

“She played the game that I was supposed to be playing. 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. She went back and kept the ball in play when she had to.

“I tried to play aggressive because I saw openings. I saw balls that I felt like I could finish off, I felt like I could hit big on.

“I think the court is a little bit slower. I should have made better adjustments. I just didn't. Then I was trying to play a little bit higher, maybe change the rhythm, but it just wasn't really going my way.

“I think the problem also was that my serve and returns weren't great today. That didn't help me. I feel like if maybe I'd served better, I could have put more pressure on her.”

Wozniacki has not looked like the same player who won in Melbourne earlier this year

Maria Sharapova, the No 22 seed, eased into the third round with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea. Sharapova, who now meets Jelena Ostapenko, recovered from a break down in the second set.

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