NEW YORK – Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova was knocked out of the U.S. Open in the second round on Wednesday, defeated by Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 7-5.
The No. 8-seeded Krejcikova won her second Grand Slam singles title this summer, but then she didn’t play any matches after the Paris Olympics. She acknowledged last week not knowing where her level of play was.
Turns out, it wasn’t good enough.
“I mean, winning Wimbledon is amazing. It’s a great, great, great result, I’m very proud about it and how I was able to handle everything there,” said Krejcikova, who hadn’t played a tournament on hard courts since February.
“I think I was playing quite well, definitely better than in the first match. I think my game was improving, but it just wasn’t enough.”
Ruse got much more work on the U.S. Open’s hard courts while playing her way into the main draw through the qualifying tournament and was better than Krejcikova on the points that mattered most, fighting back from a 5-3 deficit in the second set to win the final four games.
“Barbora, she’s such a good player, she’s won so many matches in the last two years and it’s just a dream for me,” said Ruse, a 26-year-old from Romania.
No woman has won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year since Serena Williams in 2012.
Ruse advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time and will play No. 26 seed Paula Badosa, who eliminated American Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-5.
Badosa continued her resurgence in a strong summer by reaching the third round of the U.S. Open for the first time.
“I know it’s just a third round, but I was really looking forward to doing this in New York,” said Badosa, a Spaniard who was born in New York.
On the steamiest day of the tournament thus far, with temperatures in New York surpassing 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), two men’s matches ended when one of the opponents stopped playing.
No. 20-seeded Frances Tiafoe had won the first two sets against Alexander Shevchenko when the player from Kazakhstan retired after the first game of the third set. Tallen Griekspoor got a spot in the third round when No. 21 seed Sebastian Baez stopped in the second set.
Jiri Lehecka ignored the heat to engineer the biggest comeback of his career, rallying to beat Mitchell Krueger 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in a match that finished a minute shy of four hours. Lehecka, the No. 32 seed, not only came from two sets down for the first time in his career, but he was even down 3-0 in the third set against the American qualifier.
“I kind of dug back into the match with a big fight, and then the fourth set and fifth set was just a battle and we were both fighting for every point,” Lehecka said.
Past U.S. Open finalists Aryna Sabalenka and Alexander Zverev both won their matches in straight sets, while Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, the No. 7 seed, ralled passed Erika Andreeva in three sets.
Another women’s third-round match will see No. 14 seed Madison Keys against No. 33 Elise Mertens. Keys rolled past Maya Joint 6-4, 6-0, while Mertens knocked out Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-2.
Defending champions Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic were on the schedule Wednesday night.
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