Milos Raonic’s face was red, his body the picture of weariness.
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Slovak 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova overcame a left-thigh injury to see off Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina 6-7, 6-2, 6-2, winning 17 of the last 18 points.
Isner improved to 9-0 in U.S. Open second-round matches.
His brother Christian also qualified for the main U.S. Open draw, but lost in the first round. “Then the opportunities to break him are kind of few and far between when you get ’em”, said Harrison.
The fans pulled for their guy loudly with all sorts of chants, including, “Here we go, Ryan!”
While Harrison remained cool and collected it was Raonic, 25, who wilted and called for the trainers several times to deal with cramps and troublesome left wrist. He committed only one of his 33 unforced errors in the decisive fourth set. Raonic’s total was 62, 21 in the third set alone.
In the third set, Harrison also broke Raonic at 5-6 to clinch it. Raonic, whose serve dazzled in the first set, double-faulted and on set point, Raonic cranked an overhead smash long.
On a muggy afternoon, this US Open second round was a stress test and Raonic ran out of answers.
“If I make the second week, I’ll be happy”, said Kvitova, keen to dampen down expectations.
The 120th-ranked Harrison beat Raonic 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 and will now face Marcos Baghdatis for a place in the last 16.
As well, Pickering Ont.’s Adil Shamasdin and partner Martin Klizan of Slovakia got a tough draw in the doubles, and fell 6-1, 6-3 to the No. 3 seeds, Bob and Mike Bryan of the US, in the first round of men’s doubles Wednesday. Raonic’s countryman Vasek Pospisil, who preceded him onto the Grandstand court, struggled with it some; but Pospisil’s issues with humidity are well documented. A surprise quarterfinalist at the French Open this year, she received treatment on her right arm during the second set Wednesday. Konta said her heart was racing and she had trouble breathing.
Harrison, who advanced to the third round of a grand slam for the first time, will next meet Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, a 6-2 6-4 3-6 6-4 victor over Frenchman Benoit Paire.
Her ranking down to 74th after an ankle injury and on-court struggles, Wozniacki is unseeded at the U.S. Open for the first time since her debut in 2007. It was still good for me, but I think she was playing better and she was going for it.
Wednesday was a lot more humid at Flushing Meadows than the previous days, although it wasn’t anything close to as bad as it can be here.
The woman who surprised Serena Williams in the semifinals on the way to a runner-up finish in 2015, Roberta Vinci, moved into the third round for the sixth consecutive year, defeating Christina McHale of the US 6-1, 6-3.
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The result is a major disappointment for Raonic, who reached the Wimbledon final earlier this summer and was considered by many pundits to be one of the top three contenders for the U.S. Open title along with Serbian world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and British world No. 2 Andy Murray.
