Sharapova survives as upsets rock US Open
Sunday, 31 August 2014
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (AFP): World number two Simona Halep and two-time champion Venus Williams tumbled out of the US Open Friday, but Maria Sharapova bucked the upset trend that rocked the women's draw.
Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a former phenom now a 32-year-old veteran who had to fight through qualifying, shocked second-seeded Halep, the French Open runner-up, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.
"It's incredible, amazing, I feel goofy," said Lucic-Baroni, who reached a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time since making it to the 1999 Wimbledon semi-finals as a 17-year-old.
The reward for the 121st-ranked Lucic-Baroni is a fourth-round meeting with 13th-seeded Italian Sara Errani, who thwarted Williams 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (7/5).
At the other end of the age spectrum, Swiss 17-year-old Belinda Bencic toppled sixth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-1, 7-5.
Bencic, the 2013 Wimbledon and French Open junior champion, now ranked 58th in the world, earned a meeting with former world number one Jelena Jankovic, a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Sweden's Johanna Larsson.
After dropping the lopsided first set, Kerber appeared poised to knot the match, but she couldn't convert three set points.
Bencic, coached by former Swiss great Martina Hingis' mother Melanie Molitor, seized her chance.