Flushing Meadows this year stood witness to several women top-seeds falling flat and miserably to unseeded, unknown as well as inexperienced players. Apart from Serena Williams, who has obviously managed to showcase the firebolt that she is, having broken a record of Roger Federer by securing the highest number of Grand Slam match wins of 309.
Grand Slam matches are often tough to predict but most of the top-seeded players should at least make it to the quarter-finals or even better. However, here are five women players that failed to shine at the US Open.
1) Agnieszka Radwanska
Perhaps the most shameful of the exits this year was that of Radwanska. The 27-year-old Polish player and the World Number 4 seed was rudely shown the door after she was outplayed by a Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh in straight sets of 6-4, 6-4. It is quite surprising to see a top 5 player possessing such poor game power and it is truly sad to lose out to an 18-year-old, that too in the fourth round of a Grand Slam.
The World Number 92, Ana Konjuh fired some 38 winners including six aces to seal a place for herself in the quarter-finals of the US Open Championships. Another amusing fact about Radwanska is that being a top seed player, she has never succeeded in going past the fourth round in Flushing Meadows and hence, has never had the opportunity to play in the quarters.
But watching her play will quickly take away the surprise that might have registered on learning that fact-one will have the urge to question her dominance and capabilities to occupy the Number 4 spot. Her service keeps faltering and it is indeed, pitiful to watch her failing so many times. If she doesn’t buck up anytime soon, she’ll soon be out of the top 10.
2) Ana Ivanovic
A player who had been the top-seed in 2008 is now doing her rounds as the World Number 31, is posing serious doubts in every fan’s mind- how long is she going to continue playing this way?
The US Open journey wasn’t long for her as she was shown the exit as early in the 1st round of the tournament. What is even more sad is that she had been knocked out of the Open in the first round in 2015 too. With 7 double faults and 41 unforced errors, 89th ranked Denisa Allertova had the better of her as she was quickly outplayed and lost the match 7-6(4),6-1. Asked whether she has any immediate plans to retire, now that she is married, she said,
“No, not at all,'' she said. ''I just need to really see why is this happening.''
Already troubled with a wrist injury, Ivanovic is struggling to find the right shots and get her game in place. But every year seeing her lose so early into the tournaments is surely a sad sight and we hope that she recovers soon enough and finds the lost magic in her game and comes back in the top 10, however dreary that option might seem right now.
3) Roberta Vinci
The Italian World Number 7, Roberta Vinci’s dreams of clinching a US Open title was short-lived as she fell to World Number 2, Angelique Kerber in the quarter-finals of the. The scorecard read 7-5, 6-0 in World Number 2, Angelique Kerber’s favour.
What might be a shocking fact to many would be that Vinci was the finalist of the US Open last year and had ousted Serena Williams in the semi-finals to qualify for the finals. It’s best not to comment about her faltering service.
Up against Angelique Kerber, she was no match for the German. The second set clearly shows how defenceless Vinci was and had to succumb to the prowess of Kerber, who is longing to overtake Serena Williams and topple her from her throne as the World Number 1. For someone who was the finalist the previous year, to show such poor form was a shocker but certainly, a bit of credit is due to Kerber.
4) Garbine Muguruza
Ever since World Number 3,Spaniard Muguruza won the French Open this year she has failed to show fine form in the Grand Slams. She succumbed to second round losses in both Wimbledon and again at the US Open.
With an all total of 38 unforced errors from her side, each shot increasingly worse in quality, she made the job easy for 48th ranked Latvian Anastasija Sevastova. Muguruza has been struggling to find her form and in that match, she looked lost and fired randomly to make shock-exit 7-5,6-4.
The Parisian clay courts of Roland Garros which had been friendly to the 22-year old Muguruza was the only last happy memory she has of Grand Slam success. The US Open had always been out of her reach, as she never was able to make it past the first few rounds. Being the World Number 3, it is only necessary for her to buck up and pick her falling game if she has any desire at all to hold on to the Number 3 spot on the WTA rankings.
5) Simona Halep
Number 5 seed Simona Halep, however, made a strong impact in the US Open. She posed a real threat to Serena and gave her a tough time making her lose her first set in the tournament. But the American dug deep when needed and sealed a place for herself in the semi-finals by clinching a victory over Halep in 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
It wasn’t exactly like her game is weak but considering she has won 21 of her last 23 matches, it was expected that she should have progressed beyond the quarters.
Credit must be given to Halep for putting up such a strong fight against Williams. But if she doesn’t up her game a little more she will start slipping from the current WTA rank of Number 5, when she has the potential to be much, much better. A little bit of bucking up can do her a lot of good.
