Heading into the 2020 U.S. Open, Karolina Pliskova of Louny, Czech Republic might have been the number one seed. However, on Wednesday, she certainly did not play like it. In the second round of the second major of the season, Pliskova was given a beatdown by the 32nd seed, Caroline Garcia of France, 6-1, 7-6.
Yes, the second set went to a tiebreak. However, the tiebreak was dominated by Garcia, as she won 7-2. A major reason for Garcia’s domination over Pliskova in the match was her outstanding net play. Garcia won 10 of 16 points at the net, while Pliskova had zero net points in the entire match.
Pliskova is one of four seeds ranked in the top 10 to have been eliminated from the women’s draw to date. In other round two action from Flushing Meadows, fifth-seed Aryna Sabalenka lost to two-time Australian Open Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3 in an all-Belarus matchup. Meanwhile, Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated the ninth-ranked Johanna Konta of Great Britain 2-6, 7-6, 6-4, and Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria beat the 10th-seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain, the 2016 French Open champion, and 2017 Wimbledon champion, 7-5, 6-3.
Pironkova was a formidable opponent. Despite being unseeded, she has been to the semifinals of Wimbledon before. In 2010, she reached the final four before losing Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Konta, is a three-time major semifinalist (2016 Australian Open, 2017 Wimbledon, and 2019 French Open).
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, there has only been one top-10 singles play eliminated so far. That is the ninth-seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, who was beaten by Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in the first round in five sets, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 7-5. Norrie is still in the men’s single draw as he beat Federico Coria of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in round two.
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