A pair of highly ranked contenders fell in early action at the U.S. Open on Sunday. On the women's side, No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki upset No. 5 Maria Sharapova in three sets. No. 4 David Ferrer fell on the men's side.
Tenth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open on Sunday with a fourth-round upset of No. 5 Maria Sharapova in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. It will be the first U.S. Open quarterfinals appearance since 2011 for the Denmark native.
The Russian repeatedly hurt her own cause with 43 unforced errors in the two-hour, 37-minute contest. Wozniacki committed just 17. Heat in New York may have played a factor as well, and forced a break between the second and third sets.
Just how big was this victory? "I honestly think this could be the biggest win of her life," CBS analyst Mary Carillo said. Sharapova has won the last three meetings between the former No. 1s and five of the seven matches since 2008, Richard Osborn notes at USOpen.org.
In the other early women's match of the day, No. 13 Sara Errani bested Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0. Wozniacki and Errani will meet to decide who advances to the semifinals.
Wozniacki has reached the U.S. Open semifinals on three occasions, losing in that round twice (2010-11). She reached the final in 2009, losing to Kim Clijsters. Wozniacki, however, has yet to win a Grand Slam event.
The other two women's singles matches were pushed back due to a rain delay and when they finally started, things did not go well for the seeded players. Belinda Bencic upset No. 9 Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 while Peng Shuai knocked off No. 14 Lucie Safarova in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Bencic and Shuai will square off in the quarterfinals, meaning at least one unseeded player will reach the semifinals.
Men's singles
The men's side featured an upset of its own: No. 26 Gilles Simon of France advanced to the fourth round with a four-set victory over No. 4 David Ferrer, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Simon hurt himself less than Ferrer in the two-hour, 48-minute match, committing 30 unforced errors to the Spaniard's 52. Ferrer has not lost this early at the U.S. Open in five years.
No. 14 Marin Cilic of Croatia also needed four sets to advance, beating No. 18 Kevin Anderson of South Africa, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The rain forced six matches to be temporarily suspended or delayed, including the match between No. 2 Roger Federer and Marcel Granollers. Federer did not get off to a strong start and trailed 5-2 in the first set when play was suspended. He fared much better after the restart. Despite dropping the first set 6-4, he cruised to a four-set victory, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
No. 6 Tomas Berdych took the first set of his match against Teymuraz Gabashvili before play stopped. He picked back up where he left off and advanced in straight sets. No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov dropped the first set 0-6 only to turn things around quickly. He went on to win the final three sets of the match despite not taking a point in the first set. He advanced past David Goffin, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.