“Bloody good” Barty into US Open third round; Battle for Swiatek, Badosa out

The world No 1 suffered a late wobble but was still to good for Danish teenager Clara Tauson

Ash Barty AI / REUTERS / PANORAMIC

September 2, 2021

World No 1 Ash Barty experienced a bit of deja vu at the US Open on Thursday but the Australian duly pulled herself together to clinch her place in the third round with a 6-1, 7-5 win over 18-year-old Dane Clara Tauson.

The Australian, who won Wimbledon earlier this summer for her second career Grand Slam crown, couldn’t close out the second-round match when she served for it at 5-4 in the second set, as happened in her opening round.

But she broke in the very next game and held on at the second time of asking to take her place in the third round, where she will meet American Shelby Rogers, who scored a 7-5, 6-2 win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea. And when asked to sum up her summer, she said: “Bloody good”.

First meeting? No problem for the No. 1 seed! @ashbarty | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/2aUUYUrItp
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2021

The first set effectively hinged on a marathon second game, when Barty finally broke through on her 10th break point, setting her up to cruise through the rest of the set.

A former world No 1 junior, world No 78 Tauson showed some spirit when she recovered an early break in the second set and broke back a second time for 5-5 but Barty quickly settled down to clinch victory.

“Today was tricky, I think, to navigate through that second set and just trust myself and hit out,” Barty admitted. “But all in all, happy to be moving through to the third round with some work to do but we are pleased to be able to go through and get another opportunity.”

Emotional Swiatek survives scare; Kvitova, Bencic, Sakkari march on

Former French Open champion Iga Swiatek looked in real trouble when she trailed Fiona Ferro of France by a set and 2-0 on Court 5, with the Pole fighting back tears at one stage.

But the No 7 seed is made of strong stuff and hit back to take the second set on the tiebreak and then rip through the decider for a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0 victory.

10th seed Petra Kvitova beat fellow Czech Krystina Pliskova 7-6 (4), 6-2 Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari, two women who have enjoyed real highs this summer, both marched into the third round with convincing victories.

Olympic champion Bencic saw off Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-3, 6-1 while Sakkari, a semi-finalist at Roland-Garros, cruised past Olympic doubles champion Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-2.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber was too good for Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, winning 6-3, 6-2. But Paula Badosa, the No 24 seed, was surprisingly beaten, knocked out 6-4, 6-4 by Varvara Gracheva of Russia.

And 18-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu, who achieved a breakthrough run to the last 16 at Wimbledon, is one win away from doing the same in New York after she beat the experienced Zhang Shuai of China 6-2, 6-4.

FULL SUMMARY OF THURSDAY’S ACTION AT THE US OPEN

Seeds winning at the US Open (2nd round): Ash Barty (1), Bianca Andreescu (6), Iga Swiatek (7), Petra Kvitova (10), Belinda Bencic (11), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (14), Maria Sakkari (17), Anett Kontaveit (28)
Seeds beaten at the US Open (2nd round): Paula Badosa (24), Petra Martic (30)
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