A week on and the 26-year-old Latvian is into the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time thanks to a 6-4, 7-5 victory over 13th-seeded Johanna Konta of Great Britain.
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The British No 1 was unable to find her rhythm and range in hard conditions as sunshine cast a shadow across the Arthur Ashe court that caused both players a host of problems.
Latvian tennis player Anastasija Sevastova wore a Yankees cap to her news conference after she reached her first major quarterfinal.
“I think she did a good job at neutralizing, myself”.
During her break of almost two years, Sevastova took classes in Austria in “leisure management” – studying accounting and marketing in hopes of perhaps going into sports management.
“I felt I did that, and unfortunately it wasn’t enough to play the kind of tennis I wanted to play”.
It was Konta who won the toss, and as she went 0-30 up it seemed her decision to receive would be a fruitful one.
“I think I’m playing better in my second career right now”.
Last year Konta proved she could get to the top; this year she is showing that she has every intention of staying there.
After a draining 67-minute opening set, Tsurenko had little left in the tank for the second and Vinci stamped her authority on the match quickly by going up a break and cruising to an easy win to clinch a spot in the last eight for the third time in four years. The match took 19 games to decide.
Sevastova, who also beat No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza in the second round, overcame nerves and a late fightback from Konta to win, despite missing a match point at both 5-3 and 5-4 in the second set.
Konta stopped short of admitting it in her postmatch press conference, but her second-round health scare – when she dramatically collapsed in the 80 percent humidity at Flushing Meadows – may have caught up with her as she ran out of steam. But Konta struggled with her serve and that allowed Sevastova to pull in front, 5-3. With the set back on serve and into a tiebreaker, Vinci won the final three games of the breaker to sneak out the first set.
“I had a lot of injuries”.
Sevastova retired in 2013 before making a comeback and heavy favourite Konta looked jaded after a hectic summer that also took in the Rio Olympics.
“I know it sounds bad, but honestly, at this point I’m like, I really don’t care what my ranking is”, she said.
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“There were things I could do better”. Anyone’s match to win.
