Rinky Hijikata has been dealt a grand slam reality check as Australia’s tennis stars crashed back to earth at the US Open in New York.
Hijikata was no match for Grigor Dimitrov, suffering a 6-1 6-1 7-6 (7-4) thrashing at the hands of the Bulgarian ninth seed to bow out in the second round.
Former women’s quarter-finalist Ajla Tomljanovic and 18-year-old qualifier Maya Joint were also eliminated on day three at Flushing Meadows.
With 10 players making the second round, Australia’s bumper 20-strong contingent had made their brightest start to the Open in 45 years.
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The men, in particular, have been on fire with eight Australians winning their opening matches for the first time since 1976 – almost half a century ago.
Now they’re down to seven, with 28th seed Alexei Popyrin given the chance to save the day later against Spaniard Pedro Martinez.
Hijikata stormed to the fourth round last year as a wildcard but knew he’d have his work cut out against Dimitrov, who is playing his best tennis at age 33.
Hijikata, though, could not have imagined winning only two games in the first two sets.
The 23-year-old put up more of a fight in the third but the one-time world No.3’s class ultimately prevailed as Dimitrov won through in two hours and 10 minutes.
Tomljanovic lost her second-round match 6-3 6-2 to Belgian 33rd seed Elise Mertens, while Joint’s breakout grand slam run came to a halt with a 6-4 6-0 loss to 2017 runner-up Madison Keys.
“It was a competitive first set and I had my chances but she played really well,” Joint said.
“She lifted in the second set for sure and, yeah, I don’t think I did anything wrong.”
Despite the defeat, Joint is projected to leave New York with a career-high ranking of No.108 in the world and on track to gain direct entry to the Australian Open in January, after winning three qualifying matches then her posting her maiden main-draw grand slam victory.
Wimbledon champ sent packing
Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova was knocked out of the US Open in the second round on Wednesday by Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4 7-5.
The No.8 seed won her second grand slam singles title this summer, but she didn’t play any matches after the Paris Olympics.
She acknowledged last week not knowing where her level of play was. Turns out, it wasn’t good enough.
“Winning Wimbledon is amazing. It’s a great, great, great result, I’m very proud about it and how I was able to handle everything there,” said Krejcikova, who hadn’t played a tournament on hard courts since February.
“I was playing quite well, definitely better than in the first match. I think my game was improving, but it just wasn’t enough.”
Ruse got much more work on the US Open’s hard courts while playing her way into the main draw through the qualifying tournament and was better than Krejcikova on the points that mattered most.
She fought back from 5-3 down in the second set to win the final four games.
“Barbora, she’s such a good player, she’s won so many matches in the last two years and it’s just a dream for me,” said Ruse, a 26-year-old from Romania.
She advanced to the third round of a slam for the first time and will play No. 26 seed Paula Badosa, who eliminated American Taylor Townsend 6-3 7-5.
Badosa continued her strong summer by reaching the third round of the for the first time.
Olympic champion and Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng overcame a first-set loss to beat Russian Erika Andreeva 6-7 (7-3) 6-1 6-2.
“I started the match quite slow and little by little I started to feel better about the reaction on my serve. It is too hot today, but the crowd is here suffering with me and thanks again (for all the support),” said China’s Zheng.
Jule Niemeier of Germany defeated Japanese Moyuka Uchijima 6-4 6-0 to reach the third round.
Newshttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/08/29/australias-hot-start-cools-off-with-trio-crashing-out-of-us-open-wimbledon-champ-bundled-out/Australia’s hot start cools off with trio crashing out of US Open, Wimbledon champ bundled out
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