‘Didn’t play good’: Top seed Pliskova after being ousted from 2nd round in US Open

Under regular circumstances, Karolina Pliskova wouldn’t have been seeded No. 1 on the U.S. Open and so, whereas a second-round loss definitely would have been disappointing to her, and observed by others, it wouldn’t have been as newsworthy.

But what’s regular in 2020? With the ladies who’re 1-2 within the rankings selecting to skip the journey to Flushing Meadows due to the pandemic, No. 3 Pliskova ascended to the highest spot within the draw — and by Day 3, she was gone.

Pliskova, the 2016 runner-up on the U.S. Open, made her temper clear throughout a 6-1, 7-6 (2) loss to 50th-ranked Caroline Garcia on Tuesday by breaking a racket, then once more afterward with a collection of clipped responses at her information convention.

Pliskova fidgeted with the microphone. Sighed. Rolled her eyes.

When a reporter provided attainable explanations for the defeat — a brand new quicker floor on the courts, a scarcity of ambiance as a result of there aren’t any spectators, the stress of her excessive seeding — Pliskova replied: “Nothing from what you said.”

Her reasoning for the end result? “I didn’t play good,” Pliksova stated, “so that’s it.”

When one other member of the media stated this back-and-forth have to be boring to Pliskova, she stated, “Yeah, a little bit. Did you see the match or no?” and shortly after remarked, “I don’t know if you understand tennis well enough.”

After a primary spherical that went extra to kind than ever — 29 of 32 seeded girls received their opening matches, a U.S. Open document because the variety of seeds was doubled from 16 in 2001 — the surprises began within the second spherical.

Shelby Rogers, an American ranked 93rd, beat 11th-seeded Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-1, and Ann Li, who’s ranked 128th, beat 13th-seeded Alison Riske 6-0, 6-Three in a matchup between two gamers from Pennsylvania.

Other seeded girls who had been eradicated: No. 12 Marketa Vondrousova, No. 30 Kristina Mladenovic, No. 31 Anastasija Sevastova.

Mladenovic’s loss was the wildest of all of them. She led 6-1, 5-1, then later held 4 match factors, however by no means was in a position to end and ended up on the unsuitable finish of a 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-Zero end result in opposition to 102nd-ranked Varvara Gracheva.

Two seeded males exited, too: No. 13 Cristian Garin and No. 24 Hubert Hurkacz.

Pliskova had probabilities to take the second set in opposition to Garcia, who had been 0-Eight in opposition to top-five opponents at Grand Slam tournaments, however failed to take action.

Couldn’t actually provide you with describe why this happenened, both.

“That’s how it is sometimes,” Pliskova stated. “I am not a robot, so I don’t have to play every day amazing.”

Unlike Pliskova, the No. 1 man, Novak Djokovic, solely had a quick blip on his option to the third spherical and a 25-Zero document in 2020. Going again to late final season, his successful streak is 28 matches general.

“I’m actually glad I did drop a set and got tested the way I did today against Kyle. I expected it to be a tough, tough task,” stated Djokovic, who has received 5 of the previous seven Grand Slam tournaments to boost his main trophy whole to 17, three behind Roger Federer and two behind Rafael Nadal.

“I’m really glad having an early kind of tough match in the tournament,” Djokovic stated, as a result of it sort of serves me higher, I feel, for the remainder of the event.”

Next up for him is No. 28 Jan-Lennard Struff, somebody Djokovic dismissed 6-3, 6-1 final week on the Western & Southern Open.

Other winners Tuesday included No. 5 Alexander Zverev and No. 7 Davis Goffin, whereas No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas was scheduled to play at night time.

___

More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports