New York, Sep 2 (IANS) Russian Ekaterina Makarova, seeded 24th, created the biggest upset so far at the 2013 US Open as she shut out Poland’s third seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 at the Flushing Meadows here.
It seemed like an easy match Sunday for Radwanska when she jumped 4-0 ahead at the beginning, before Makarova made an even bigger spurt by winning the next eight games, taking a 6-4, 2-0 lead, reports Xinhua.
Radwanska came back by winning three consecutive games, but Makarova responded by knocking down four of next five games to finish the match.
“I wouldn’t know that as well, what happened,” said Radwanska after the match.
“I think I started good. I think she was a little bit nervous in the beginning and then started to play better and better and hit the ball very well.”
It was the first top five win for Makarova, and Radwanska became the highest and fifth top-eight seed to be eliminated before the quarter-finals.
Alreay out were No.4 seed Sara Errani, No.6 Caroline Wozniacki, No.7 Petra Kvitova and No.8 Angelique Kerber.
Makarova booked a quarter-final meeting with fifth seeded Chinese Li Na, who needed 57 minutes to beat No.9 seed Jelena Jankovic.
It was an overwhelming match. Li had lost to Jankovic in their last three meetings, but she won all her seven break points and outscored the former world number one 20-7 on winners.
“It’s very tough to play against Jankovic because she was former No. 1 and she has very good defense,” said Li after the match.
“I still remember last time I played her in Rome. I was feeling I played pretty good, but still lost the match. So I was so sad after the match. So before the match, Carlos (Rodriguez) didn’t tell me anything. Just say, remember how you feel after match.”
Li entered the match with perfect form, winning three straight games to establish a 3-0 lead. Jankovic managed to break in the fourth game, pulling back the score to 2-3. Li shrugged off the pressure in the sixth game, breaking back to extend the advantage to 4-2. Though Jankovic finished another break afterwards, Li let go no chance in other games, finishing the first set 6-3.
Jankovic hardly had chance in the second set, losing six straight games.
No.1 seed Serena Williams also had a wonderful match beating Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-1.
“I definitely think it was a high-quality match,” said Williams. “I don’t think either of us had an overwhelming amount of unforced errors.”
The first set turned out to be a close one, in which the two players levelled until 2-2. Stephens made a couple of unforced errors in the sixth game, and Williams took the chance to complete a break with a forehand winner.
Stephens broke back to draw the score back to 4-4, but hot-handed Williams won the following two games to end the first set.
Stephens didn’t recover from the first set, losing five straight games after 1-1 to finish the match.
“She’s already beaten a couple top players,” said Williams about her opponent.
“Sometimes you need a win against top players. She’s beaten me, she’s beaten other players, so she’s there.”
The WTA top-ranked player will meet No.18 seed Suarez Navarro from Spain, who beat German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in the same day.
On men’s side, top seed Novak Djokovic, third seed Andy Murray, fifth seed Thomas Berdych all advanced in straight sets.
