Wimbledon champion Angelique
Kerber was beaten 3-6 6-3 6-3 by Slovakian 29th seed Dominika Cibulkova
in the third round of the US Open in New York.
Kerber broke three times in the first set but Cibulkova repeated the feat in the second to take it to a decider. The German fourth seed was then broken again twice in the final set and misses out on a last-16 tie with last year's finalist Madison Keys. None of this year's Grand Slam winners are now left in the women's singles. French Open champion Simona Halep was knocked out by Kaia Kanepi in the first round, while Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki suffered a shock second-round loss to Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko. American 14th seed Keys, runner-up to Sloane Stephens last year, recovered from a set down to reach the last 16, beating Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic 4-6 6-1 6-2. Keys was broken in her first service game of the match en route to losing the first set but broke twice in the second set to take it to a decider. The first five games of the third set went against serve before the American held for 4-2 and closed out the match. "I was definitely a little bit nervous and she came out playing really well and put pressure on me from the start. I am just happy to be in the next round," Keys, 23, said. "There were too many unforced errors in the first set but I'm glad I settled down a bit and played much better. I wasn't aggressive enough in the first set and was too passive. The biggest thing was trusting myself." Another high-ranked departure was French sixth seed Caroline Garcia, conqueror of Britain's Johanna Konta in round one, who lost 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to Carla Suarez-Navarro. After taking the first set, Garcia was broken in the opening game of the second set and could not find a way back, before losing a tight third set on a tie-break. Spanish 30th seed Suarez-Navarro will face Russian former champion Maria Sharapova or Latvian 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko next. Elsewhere, Dutch 13th seed Kiki Bertens was knocked out by Czech Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-6 (7-1). Japan's 20th seed Naomi Osaka thrashed Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-0 6-0 and will face either fifth seed Petra Kvitova or 26th seed Aryna Sabalenka. |
