CAROLINE Garcia has caused the boil-over of the US Open by defeating top seed and world number three, Karolina Pliskova in straight sets today. The unseeded Frenchwoman made her way into the third round at the Grand Slam with a 6-1 7-6 victory, winning the last five points of the match after the Czech seed threatened to level the match.

“It’s top players, so if you wait for the mistake it’s never going to happen,” Garcia said post-match. “If you let Pliskova breeze and take your serve, you’re never going to make a return, and then it’s 6-4, 6-4 and you’re done in one hour. “So you have to make her in trouble – that’s what I liked and it was a great challenge for me. “I did well in this challenge and I can take the happiness for it, and now I’m after another one.”

The former top 10 player who is now ranked 50th in the world will compete in her fourth third round match at Flushing Meadows, bouncing back after a first round loss in 2019. Two consecutive breaks in the opening set resulted in the underdog racing to a 5-0 lead before Pliskova finally got on the board by holding serve. It mattered little to Garcia show served it out herself 6-1.

Breaking her opponent in the opening game of the second set, Garcia led by a break in the seventh game at 4-2, but lost three consecutive games as Pliskova had a couple of set points on Garcia’s serve at 5-4. Garcia recovered to force the match into a tiebreaker, where she won 7-2 after being 2-2 early in the break. She now takes on 28th seed Jennifer Brady who is coming off some great form by winning her first title at the Top Seed Open.

“She (Brady) won her first title and she did good since the last year and a half,” Garcia said. “I think we have pretty much the same weapons, the serve and the forehand. “She moves well on court, and she’s playing in her country even if it’s without fans. “We had a battle in the past and I’m looking forward to it. “Because she’s not ranked maybe as high as Pliskova is today, but she’s definitely going to keep improving, so it’s really a great challenge for me.”

Brady comes into the Round of 16 match off the back of an absolute shellacking of compatriot, CiCi Bellis. While Bellis has shown good form upon return on the tour from injury, Brady showed just what she was capable of, winning 6-1 6-2 in just 51 minutes of matchplay. The more experienced American would not allow Bellis to work into the match, hitting 21 winners to three, while only conceding 13 unforced errors to 20.

Speaking of all-American clashes, the only upset that might have rivalled Garcia’s win over Pliskova, was young gun, Ann Li‘s 6-0 6-3 smashing of 13th seed Alison Riske. The match lasted just 75 minutes with the 20-year-old world number 128 hitting 20 winners to 16, and only 20 unforced errors to 33, whilst capitalising on eight of her nine net points. Her ability to attack Riske’s second serve – winning 74 per cent of the points – whilst breaking even off her compatriot’s first serve, was the key to victory. She made Riske move around the court and force her into uncomfortable shot-making positions during the straight sets thrashing.

The 20-year-old now takes on 17th seed Angelique Kerber in the third round with the winner of that match to face the winner of Garcia and Brady for a spot in the quarter finals. Also in the top quarter of the draw two more seeds joined Pliskova and Riske on the sidelines with Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich smashing 12th seed Marketa Vondrousova 6-1 6-2, while Russian Varvara Gracheva shook off 30th seed Kristina Mladenovic to win 1-6 7-6 6-0. Gracheva goes head to head with eighth seed Petra Martic in the Round of 16, while Sasnovich now locks horns with Kazakhstan young gun, Yulia Putintseva.

The news was not as good for top rank Kazakh hopeful, Elena Rybakina who was bundled out by Shelby Rogers in straight sets, 7-5 6-1. The American said she was pleased with how her game had gone against a real up and comer on the WTA Tour.

“It definitely felt good to get that one in two sets,” Rogers said post-match. “The first set, I came out playing pretty cleanly, executing the game plan I had very well, and was serving well. Things got dicey when she started playing better, playing more aggressive and making her shots. “I just kept telling myself, ‘One more point, keep making balls,’ and thankfully got through the first set. “I really buckled down in the second because I really didn’t want that to happen again!”

Similarly, it was a mixed bag for Ukrainian fans, with Marta Kostyuk defeating 31st seed Latvian Anastasia Sevastova 6-3 7-6, but Kateryna Kozlova went down to sixth seed Czech Petra Kvitova, 7-6 6-2. Jessica Pegula joined Rogers in the Round of 32 to face Kvitova after defeating Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 7-6 6-2.

Other winners on day three included fourth seed Naomi Osaka, 14th seed Anett Kontaveit and 24th seed Magda Linette, whilst in the last game of the day, 19th seed Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska went down to American Madison Brengle 6-2 6-3.

Picture: USTA